


All I've Been Looking For

by deluxemycroft



Category: Arrow (TV 2012) RPF, Supernatural RPF
Genre: Alpha Jensen, Alpha Stephen, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Dirty Talk, F/M, Full Shift Werewolves, Jealous Jensen, M/M, Misunderstandings, Omega Danneel, Omega Jared, Possessive Jensen, Pregnancy, Voyeurism, Werewolves, amellecki, insecure jared, padamell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-28
Updated: 2016-09-23
Packaged: 2018-08-11 15:11:28
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 40,376
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7897531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deluxemycroft/pseuds/deluxemycroft
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Stephen Amell is the worst thing to ever happen to Jensen Ackles.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> look at these!!!!!!!!
> 
> http://samprincesschester.tumblr.com/post/156896650318/all-ive-been-looking-for  
> http://thebarbershopquartet.tumblr.com/post/156273494029/commission-for-samprincesschester-who-requested

Chapter 1

Jensen is actually a pretty smart guy. He'd never tell his wife that—she would just laugh at him and probably pat him consolingly on the arm—nor would he say that to Jared, but he’s smart enough. For instance, he’s known ever since he found out Jared was an omega, that an alpha would eventually take his friend from him. Best friends or not, nothing overpowers a mating bond.

He just never thought the alpha to take his friend away would be someone like Stephen Amell. Stephen is the _worst_.

Jensen would’ve thought that Stephen was a beta by his unassuming personality and his casual smile, if not for that godawful alpha stink that followed him everywhere. He’d fended off plenty of alphas and betas who were after Jared for a quick fuck or a quick knot, but Stephen hadn’t ever looked at Jared like he was anything other than a friend.

At first, it had been refreshing. Given that most actors were weres, and a lot of them were alphas, it had been nice to think that he could leave his friend with another alpha and not worry about coming back to find Jared in a compromising position. Stephen might hang around their set a lot but that’s just what friends did. Jared and Stephen had gotten along so well that Jensen had relaxed and tried to focus on getting his wife pregnant.

Like everything in Jensen’s life, that backfired on him.

He was a good friend, and he wanted the best for Jared. He wasn’t jealous of anyone Jared spent time with; hell, he’d been part of helping Gen get Jared into bed and then date for a couple years. Beta or not, she’d been good for him. Trusting her to help Jared through one of his heats had been a mistake, but Jensen would take the blame for that one. Betas didn’t have the stamina to help an omega, sex toys or otherwise. God knew Gen had tried, too.

Jensen had spent a lot of time trying to figure out what Jared’s perfect alpha could be like. Stephen fit a lot of those ideals. He was a genuinely kind person, with a protective streak that practically matched Jensen’s, and it was so difficult to get him mad that Jensen occasionally messed with him just to see if it was just a façade.

Jensen couldn’t stand the guy. He wasn’t jealous. He just wanted the best for his best friend. If he could find a mate, then so could Jared. He just didn’t understand why it had to be Stephen, of all people.

//

It started with wine. A lot of things in Jared’s life revolved around wine. His house in Texas had a wine cellar that could hold over ten thousand bottles. Well, Jensen wasn’t sure on the exact number, but he knew it was something preposterous. Anything over about 30 bottles of wine was too many. Of course, Stephen had a wine kink too, and found a wine tasting that he ended up taking Jared and Jensen to. He hadn’t had a ticket for Jensen but a couple well-placed phone calls had gotten Jensen in.

It had been boring. Jensen liked wine—he liked hard liquor more—but Jared really had a thing for it. He knew all this stuff about legs and why fresh wine sometimes smelled like burnt matches, and could even narrow the variety of grapes used down to certain regions by looking at a glass. He was ridiculous.

Stephen was pretty close. It was pretty obvious to Jensen that he had just casually enjoyed wine before he met Jared. That didn’t really mean anything, though. A lot of alphas tried to impress Jared by pretending to be interested in the things Jared liked. Hell, one alpha had even gone out and bought a dog to have an excuse to interrupt Jared’s runs in the morning. Jensen was pretty used to it. There wasn’t any reason to expect Stephen to be different.

After the wine tasting, Stephen had bought a few bottles and suggested they go back to his apartment to enjoy them, along with some steaks he had thawing. Jared was always up for food and Jensen had tagged along.

Stephen was so fucking gregarious. He was unreasonably easy to get along with. He was always happy and smiling and always willing to go along with what Jared wanted to do. He liked jogging and working out and was about half in love with Harley and Sadie. He usually ate healthy food but happily pigged out with Jared. He would get drunk and then ‘apologize’ to his body with healthy food and juices for a couple days.

Jensen fucking hates him.

He never actively started the courting process. Jensen would have noticed that, he’s sure of it. It seemed that one day, Jensen woke up in the guest room of Jared’s house, and half the food in the refrigerator had Stephen’s stink on it. There were flowers on the kitchen table that smelled like Stephen. There’s a coat in the coat closet that reeked.

It isn’t Jensen’s house. He can’t wolf out and claw Stephen’s coat to pieces. He couldn’t pull out all the food Stephen had brought over and piss all over it. Instead, he wrinkles his nose and scratches his belly and glares at the fridge like it’s personally trying to take Jared away from him.

He didn’t dare think that this was how Jared had felt when he had started courting Danneel.

Instead, he makes himself coffee and doesn’t use the milk that smells like Stephen. He drops onto the couch that smells like him and Jared and the dogs, and turns on the TV. He definitely doesn’t sit on the spot that reeks like Stephen and he definitely doesn’t rub his scent into the cushions to cover up the stink of the other alpha.

He usually isn’t this territorial. Jared has people over all the time. The moon is going to be full in a few days; maybe that was why he's so frustrated.

Whatever.

Jared falls into the kitchen a few minutes later and pours himself a bowl of cereal with the milk that stinks like Stephen. Omegas have more sensitive noses than alphas, so there isn’t any way that Jared doesn’t know what he’s doing. Well, at least Danneel’s nose is more sensitive than Jensen’s. She likes to tell him all the time how much he smells like Jared. It’s not like Jensen can do anything about that. Jared is his best friend and they practically live together. Of course he’s going to smell like the omega.

Actually, now that Jensen thinks about it, he doesn’t know a lot of omegas. He could probably Google some facts before just assuming things.

Jared drops onto the couch and curls up into the arm, hugging a pillow as he glares tiredly at his cereal. Usually they spent Saturdays lazing around Jared’s house, usually doing something with the dogs and then watching a bad movie and just recuperating from the week. That’s what Jensen thinks they’re going to do. He’s thinking he should call his wife while Jared takes the dogs out; he’s not feeling up for a run.

Jared finally wakes up enough to lean over and rub his cheek on Jensen’s shoulder, like he’s an eight-year-old pup who needs reassurance and not a grown ass man. Jensen slings his arm around his friend’s shoulders and presses his cheek to the top of Jared’s head. This is how regular friends act, Jensen reminds himself. He’s allowed to be in Jared’s space because they’re friends, not because Jensen is an over-possessive loser who can’t bear to see one of his few friends possibly be courted by another alpha. He’s not that kind of guy. He’s never been the jealous type, not even with his own omega.

He’s not calling Danneel. She would laugh at him for an hour straight. Jensen loves her in a way he’s never loved another were, but there’s no way he can admit to her that he’s practically fighting himself over his best friend being courted by the biggest asshole on the planet.

“Stephen is coming over later. Says he has something for me.”

There was no way Jared doesn’t catch the way Jensen’s heart skips a beat or the growl that he stops in his throat. Jared snorts into Jensen’s shoulder and Jensen can feel him roll his eyes. “Is he going to be staying awhile?” Jensen asks, taking an extremely casual sip of his coffee. It was totally normal his very attractive omega best friend would be inviting alphas over to his own house, and it was absolutely a thing Jensen could handle.

“Probably. I told him we usually watch a movie or two and he said he’d bring one.” Jared snickers and untangles the two of them, elbowing Jensen in the side. “Y’know…as long as you’re okay with that, Mr. Big Tough Alpha.”

Jensen isn’t pouting. He’s a grown man and he is not pouting. He’s frowning sternly, like the alpha he is. “It’s your house.”

Jared ruffles Jensen’s hair and stands up, cracking his back as he stretches. “I’m gonna go for a run in the woods before Stephen gets here. You wanna come with?”

They usually find time to run together at least once a week, so this isn’t anything new. But Stephen never got to run with Jared, and feeling unreasonably smug, Jensen downs the last of his nasty black coffee and stands up, following Jared outside. They both strip, with Jensen, being the mated alpha, having the courtesy to turn away and having absolutely no reason to show off his knot to anyone who isn’t his mate. He definitely also has no reason to steal a peek at what kind of equipment Jared is packing. Jensen was absolutely never the kind of were to want to know what his best friend was carrying around downstairs. He’s just not that curious, especially about Jared.

He does, however, turn in time to see Jared change. It’s always mess of joints popping and bones being in places where they shouldn’t be, but omegas tend to make it more graceful than any alpha Jensen has ever seen. Omegas are usually quicker at shifting—they have to be—and can recover faster from the sudden shock of having a whole heap of wolf instincts shoved into their brain.

Jared is already prancing around the yard and peeing on the plants by the time Jensen shifts and gets acclimated. His alpha were brain knows there’s an unmated omega nearby, but his alpha were brain _also_ knows that he’s very happily mated and that that omega already has the scent of another alpha rubbed all over him. Jensen’s absolutely not disgusted by that, and has absolutely no plan to run Jared through the pond about a mile away to get that foreign alpha stink off him.

Once Jensen finally gets comfortable in his wolf skin and with his wolf brain, he leaps off the back deck and tackles Jared, rolling him around in the grass and then letting the omega pin him. It doesn’t take anything away from Jensen to let an unmated omega take him down. It does, however, give the omega a confidence boost, not that Jared needs that. The brat is egotistical enough.

Jared pins him and then jumps up, prancing around the backyard before bolting off into the woods. Jensen follows at a sedate trot, occasionally stopping to sniff at plants or to piss on a tree or to roll around in something that smelled good. Jared owned about 30 acres of Canadian country, and the two of them could go for quite a ways before they hit someone else’s property. Folks didn’t take too kindly to wolves but knew they existed, and Jensen had been outed as a were on _Days_ , so most people know what he is.

Most people also know Jared is a were because of how rare it is for an omega were to be a main character on a TV show, especially one that’s been on the air for nine years.

Running through the woods as a wolf is an entirely different experience than running as a human. For one, it’s enjoyable. Two, there’s something about the fresh air and the trees that make his wolf wake up and stretch out and enjoy the earth. Feeling the dirt beneath his claws and the smell of pine in the air…there’s nothing like being a wolf. Jensen wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

They end up running up to the pond and swimming around for awhile before collapsing next to each other on the shore, Jared panting loudly and rolling over onto his back. They lay there for a while, enjoying the sun and the breeze and each other’s company, before Jensen finally drags himself up and noses Jared awake. Jared groans and acts like he doesn’t want to go back to his house, but Jensen can see the restrained eagerness in the way he wags his tail and bounces off the trees.

Just because Jared is happy to see Stephen didn’t mean Stephen is the right alpha for him. Jensen isn’t easily convinced.

To Jensen’s surprise, Stephen is waiting for them on the back deck. Apparently, Jared had told him they were going out for a run and to just let himself inside, like he _belongs_ in Jared’s house or something. He’s already helped himself to some of the food in the fridge that he’d stinked up, and Jensen picks up both his and Jared’s clothes in his mouth and herds his friend around the side of the house to shift back before Jared could get any ideas about shifting in front of an unmated alpha.

God only knew that Jared probably would. Especially an alpha who’s clearly courting him. Stephen only has so much self control, and being as placid as a beta didn’t mean he’s always that way. Jensen has seen his protective streak and he knows how that works between an alpha and an omega. He has the mating bond to prove it, after all.

Hell, before he had started dating Danneel, there had been times when Jensen had been barely able to resist Jared and he’s not even attracted to the guy. It’s just Jared’s charm and the easy, almost flowery way he smells. Jared can’t control that but Jensen can at least help keep him somewhat safer.

Jensen watches Jared stumble around the side of the house to greet the other alpha with a rub. Stephen actually literally drops his beer to cup the back of Jared’s head and rub his cheek over the top of Jared’s head. The bag of chips he had been chewing on were also dropped to the ground and Jensen winces, thinking about the ants that’s going to attract.

Absolutely disgusting. Jensen is on the verge of gagging. Courting alphas and omegas were usually all over each other but seeing it is far different than just knowing it. Especially having to see Stephen twist chip-sticky fingers in Jared’s hair and send out a large stink wave of contentment. Jared’s practically purring, nearly curled up on the alpha’s lap, and Jensen is halfway to yanking Jared off him when Jared jumps up and looks between the two alphas, a huge smile on his face.

“Are we gonna watch movies first?”

Jensen knows that both he and Stephen will do whatever Jared wants. He’s a petty little man, however, and while he’s _not_ jealous, Jensen makes sure he replies first that they can watch whatever Jared wants to watch. The other alpha gets up and stretches and picks up his beer and chips and greets Jensen with a slap on the back and a wide grin.

He wonders if Stephen feels as if there’s some camaraderie between the two of them, as if Jensen is just the weak alpha who didn’t take the chance to mate Jared and now Stephen is the alpha filling that spot. As if Jared wouldn’t have presented to him and taken his knot if Jensen had barely ever hinted he’d wanted that. As if Jensen was the weak alpha who took a female omega over a male omega.

As if Jensen couldn’t kill Stephen with his bare hands in 20 seconds flat.

It’s on the tip of his tongue to tell Stephen that, but Jensen realizes right as he opens his mouth to say it, that telling another alpha out of the blue that he could kill them isn’t really the smartest thing to do. That’s the sort of thing that has to happen naturally in a conversation. He can’t just blurt it out.

They end up watching _The Outlaw Josey Wales_. Jensen has no idea how that came up on a night that’s supposed to be dedicated to bad movies, but he’s never been the kind of guy to turn down a Clint Eastwood movie.

He sits right in the middle of the couch. Jared curls up on his usual cushion all the way to the right and Stephen pretends he doesn’t stand awkwardly next to the couch for a long moment before deciding to sit in one of the leather rocking chairs. He chooses the one on the right side of the couch. That goddamn bastard. Unbelievable.

They start the movie and Jared decides to run into the kitchen to start popcorn. Jensen is about to get up and help when Stephen has the audacity to pause the movie and join Jared in the kitchen.

Jensen can’t go in there now. There don’t need to be three grown weres getting snacks. They’re adults. They can get snacks without Jensen pretending to help but just getting in between them. The floor plan is open and Jensen can see into the kitchen if he turns around. He’s very subtle when he twists around on the couch and watches Stephen hand Jared a bowl for the popcorn. The bastard already knew where the bowls were. He didn’t even have to ask. Jensen hates him and his knowledge of where Jared keeps his bowls.

Jared is watching the popcorn pop in the microwave when he grins and turns to look at Jensen. “You’re freaking screaming pissed off scent. Just restart the movie, buddy.”

“I’ve already seen it,” Stephen pipes up, leaning against the island like he just _belongs_ in Jared’s kitchen.

He can’t tell them how much he hates Stephen. The worst part is that the alpha is just a good guy and there’s really no reason for Jensen to hate him as much as he does. Instead of saying anything like, ‘Oh, Jared and I have watched this movie six times’ or ‘If you know where Jared keeps the cheese he likes to put on the popcorn, I’ll gut you,’ Jensen just grumbles, “Don’t forget the salt, Padalecki,” and turns back to the TV.

He doesn’t restart the movie. He’s a bitter, petty man.

Jared comes in a couple of minutes later and hands Jensen a bowl of popcorn. It’s perfectly salted and it smells like Stephen. “Have I ever forgotten your salt, Shackles? Would I really do that to you?”

If it wasn’t for Stephen’s alpha stink filling up the room as he settles back into the chair, Jensen could just about forget he was even there.

The three of them settle in to watch the movie. They end up watching the second _Die Hard_ after they all have dinner, and when Stephen leaves, he gives Jared a single white rose that he had apparently been hiding in his ass or something since Jensen has no idea where it came from.

Jared blushes and Jensen ends up calling his wife at almost one in the morning to tell her he loves her.

If it’s the last thing Jensen does, he’s taking Stephen Amell down.


	2. Chapter Two

They spend Sunday out in the woods, wolfed out and happy. Jensen manages to catch a rabbit that he shares with Jared and something rumbles in his gut that he’s a better supplier of food than Stephen, who just brings stupid things like popcorn that isn’t even his and roses. When they get back to the house, he’s half expecting Stephen to be waiting for them, but they get a blessedly Stephen-free day.

Jensen orders in two pizzas and catches up on a few emails while smugly watching Jared eat an entire meat lover’s pizza by himself. He has to go back to his apartment to change—he only keeps a day’s worth of clothes at Jared’s house and he’s been in that change of clothes since Saturday morning—but he’s cautiously waiting to make sure Stephen doesn’t make a surprise appearance.

They fall into their easy rhythm of talking about the next week and why Dean is being an asshole again and how Sam is going to struggle through handling the aftereffects of the whole Gadreel/Ezekiel thing and Jensen feels normal again. He ends up calling a cab to take him back to his apartment after 9pm, when it feels like it would just be rude for Stephen to show up.

Of fucking course, since Stephen’s apartment is in the building across the street, he just happens to be getting out of a cab at the exact same time Jensen arrives. For a minute, Jensen is furious.

If Stephen is courting another omega on the side, Jensen will kill him twice. Once for trying to take Jared away from him and the second time for that kind of goddamn betrayal. But the alpha jogs over and he smells like human, with no courting stink on him, so Jensen relaxes a bit. He might hate the guy but he can pretend to be nice for however long it takes for Stephen to say hi.

“Hey, man! How’s it going?”

“Good. Got an early day tomorrow.”

Stephen just grins at him. “That sucks. I have tomorrow off.” He starts telling Jensen about something Oliver Queen is up to and Jensen is stuck with feeling that there’s literally nothing else that matters less to him in the world. He cares more about what the useless angels are up to. He cares more about what his bed sheets get up to when he stays at Jared’s place.

Apparently that shows on Jensen’s face because Stephen trails off with a sheepish smile. “Do you watch _Arrow_?”

He just about tells the guy that he would rather stick hot pens in his eyes. “No, but Jared does.”

That's a colossal mistake. That's a bigger mistake than when the Trojans brought that big horse into the city. Stephen lights up like Jensen told him Jared explicitly masturbates to gay porn with Stephen’s head photoshopped onto one of the guys.

“Oh, what does he think about Oliver? Does he like my acting?” That’s the actor way of asking if Jared thinks Stephen is cute. Jensen wants to throw up. “You know, I’ve been watching _Supernatural_ ever since season one. I know a lot of guys auditioned for Dean but you really capture him in a way no one else could. You and Jared really click on screen.”

Stephen says something else about their acting but Jensen is trying to swallow the bile that’s rising in his throat. He just nods and blurts out that it’s Jared who makes him a good actor.

Stephen literally has hearts in his eyes. “I would love to do a show or a movie with Jared. He’s such a good guy. I really feel a connection with him, y’know?”

Jensen can’t do this. He can’t listen to this alpha wax poetic about his best friend out here on the sidewalk at almost 10pm at night when he has a 7am call the next morning. So, of course, since his brain is in no way connected to his mouth, he sighs and says, “You wanna take this upstairs? I think we got some things to talk about.”

He sees Stephen tense up and then relax. They both know what’s coming. He knows Stephen thinks he’s going to get the ‘you hurt my friend and I’ll gut you’ talk, but he hasn’t dealt with an alpha like Jensen before. Jensen has a very detailed plan in how he would put Stephen in the ground, and he’s considering writing it down and giving it to the guy.

They spend the elevator ride and the walk to Jensen’s apartment in silence. He opens the front door and waves Stephen into the kitchen. To his surprise, the other alpha sits down at one of his barstools and clears his throat. Jensen was kind of expecting him to raid the fridge or walk around and find out how recently Jared has been there.

Jensen leans against the counter across from the bar and crosses his arms over his chest. He’s not starting this. He would probably blurt out how he’s studied how weres decompose differently than humans and how he knows to bury a were deeper than a person.

Stephen rubs his hand at his stubble and sits up straight, pushing his palms along his thighs to smooth out his jeans. Jensen has noticed that his pants have gotten progressively tighter the more he’s been around Jared. Disgusting.

“I’m going to court Jared whether or not you like it,” Stephen finally says, and it’s only because Jensen has had years of acting experience that he doesn’t drop his jaw to the floor. “He’s my mate. I can feel it and I know he can too.”

The goddamned audacity.

Jared is _his_ boy and some actor who thinks he’s hot stuff because he’s the lead actor on some dumb superhero show isn’t going to take him from Jensen. He’s on the verge of opening his mouth to demand Stephen rescind that nonsense when the other alpha continues.

“I know you two are close. Anyone could see that. Hell, I almost thought you two were mated by the way he stinks of you.”

Stinks?! Jensen doesn’t stink! He has a very manly alpha scent that has attracted a lot of omegas and—

Stephen laughs a little and rubs at the back of his neck. “Alright, you don’t stink. Calm down, man. Once I heard about Danneel I knew it wasn’t true. I know you’re damn protective of him and I don’t blame you. I’m not going to take him from you, Jensen. It’s pretty obvious you think that any alpha that comes near him is one of those weres that is going to hide him away and force him to be their slave. You know I’m not like that, man.

“I’m a pretty alright guy. I’m courting him correctly and I’m going about as slow as it’s possible for courting to go. There’s never been a moment when he hasn’t been receptive and if there was, I would stop and figure out what I had done wrong. You know that, Jensen. Hell, I wouldn’t even be this far in the courting process if he hadn’t been up for it. I know you know it’s damn impossible to court an omega who isn’t willing.”

Stephen stands and Jensen straightens, figuring this is where Stephen is going to tell him to stand the fuck down and let him knot his friend’s ass.

The asshole continues to surprise him.

“Jared even told me the first time we met that you weren’t going to be happy about this. I thought he meant that you were courting him or that you two had already mated and I was going to look elsewhere. I figured out pretty quick what he meant.”

Stephen goes quiet and Jensen grabs the edge of the counter, glaring at the other alpha. Slowly, he grits out, “What did he mean?”

Stephen isn’t phased. Hell, he looks nothing like an alpha defending his claim. Instead, he looks like the jovial, easy-going son of a bitch he’s always been. “You’re jealous. Everything Jared has done has been for you. Hell, he dated that beta Genevieve because you set him up with her. The entire time you’ve known him, everything has been about you, and you can’t stand Jared looking elsewhere for something you think you should be able to give him.”

Jensen is half a second away from twisting Stephen’s head off. The people in the next apartment can probably smell how pissed he is.

“I know what I want and I know how to get what I want. And I want Jared. And somehow, miraculously, he wants me back. I know you think I’m some dumb superhero”—Can the guy read minds? What the fuck? —“but I protect what’s mine. You can hate me all you want, but do you really want to be want stands in between Jared being with his mate? You really want to be the guy who stops his friend from finding an alpha because you’re jealous? I know he’s my mate, Jensen, and until he tells me otherwise, he’s going to be my omega.”

Jensen has never dealt well with competition. He has always strived to be the best in his field and when he wants something, he gets it. He can see the same fire in Stephen’s eyes.

“I’m not going to back down,” he says, and Jensen surprises himself with that, because it sounds almost like acknowledgement of Stephen’s claim. “I’m mated, I’ll give you that. But I’ve pulled knot-crazy alphas off Jared and I know you’re no damn different. You can say you smell mate-scent on him all you want, but until he tells me the same thing about you, I’m going to be between you two every step of the way. I’m not letting an alpha take him without a fight.”

Stephen looks like he wasn’t expecting Jensen to say anything different. “I don’t expect you to suddenly drop out of his life. I’m not going to take him from you. You can fight this all you want, but in the end, this is between me and Jared.”

And that’s the kicker, isn’t it? Jensen has been a part of everything in Jared’s life up until now. He’s been the one Jared sent to the store to get alpha lube, he’s been the one to break his knuckles on alphas who thought they could get an easy lay out of Jared. He’s been the one to have Jared’s back through thick and thin. He’s the one who moved in with Jared when he was so depressed he could barely get out of bed. He’s the one who’s been there and this alpha thinks he can just step in and take Jensen’s place?

Instead of saying that, instead of saying anything, Jensen just lifts his chin and tells Stephen to get the fuck out of his apartment before he tears his damn head off. Stephen just nods and wishes him good luck in filming tomorrow.

Jensen goes to bed furious, and at 1am, finds himself scrolling through his phone, looking at pictures of himself and Jared. He doesn’t know why Jared needs anyone other than him, anyone more than him. Hasn’t Jensen been good enough for him? Hasn’t Jensen taken care of him?

He ends up falling asleep, restless, and doesn’t dream of anything.


	3. Chapter Three

7am calls are too fucking early. Jensen dozes in his trailer when he’s not on set. Jared has been weirdly cautious around him all day and once they’re done filming, Jensen decides it’s time to put on his big boy pants and have a talk.

He hates talks. He and Dean are alike like that. He and Dean are alike in a lot of ways, actually. They both love this big guy with too much hair who has an independent streak a mile wide and wants to do his own thing and always thinks he knows what's the right thing to do.

Jensen ends up cooking them steak on Jared’s grill, taking deep breaths to ready himself.

It’s stupid what he finally says. Maybe he’s not so smart after all.

“So you and Amell, huh?”

Jared just laughs at him. “Yeah, man. Me and Amell.”

“You think he’s…y’know…your guy?”

“You can say it, Jensen. Yeah, he’s my mate. My alpha.”

Jensen will throw up on these steaks. He will actually vomit on organic USDA Choice steaks and he will have to buy Jared new steak. He really don’t want to shell out a hundred bucks for the steak Jared likes so he swallows the bile down and pretends like this is just a conversation someone has every day.

“How’d you figure that one? And Amell of all people? Come on, man.”

Jared laughs again and Jensen turns off the grill, turning around to look at his friend. His best goddamn friend he’s ever had. Jensen tries to take a step back mentally and look at Jared from the perspective of someone who isn’t terrified of losing him.

Jared looks happy. He smells content. He smells like an omega being courted by an alpha who is going about it the right way. He has a sparkle in his eye that Jensen didn’t put there. He’s wearing a ratty old t-shirt that is probably Jensen’s and he looks like the world has finally turned on its axis the way he thought it should’ve all along.

Jensen is dumbstruck.

“He makes me happy, Jensen. He likes wine and he smells right. Hell, he smells like I always thought my alpha would smell. He doesn’t mind how big I am. He even likes you and you look like you want to gut him every time you see him. He’s a really nice guy and he courts me like they do in the movies. He’s a big romantic goofball and he has a really nice ass.” Jared blushes. Jensen is going to find a steak knife and stab himself in the foot with it. “He makes me feel safe, like he could protect me.”

“I protect you,” Jensen says desperately, and it feels like a last jab at his dignity when Jared just smiles gently at him.

“I know you do, Jensen, but you’re not my alpha. You never wanted to be my alpha and honestly, I don’t want you as my alpha. We’re friends. Best friends, really. And I wouldn’t ever want that to change. But Stephen is…he’s more. I feel safe when he’s around. I…my wolf likes him. My wolf thinks he’s hung the sun and the moon and all the stars. Just the way he smells brings me comfort, and when he hugs me…Jensen, it feels like coming home.”

There’s literally nothing for Jensen to say to that. He’s stuck in a place where he can’t stop any of this from happening, no matter how much he wants to. He sighs and shakes his head. “That’s the gayest thing you’ve ever said.”

Jared practically tackles him.

They end burning the steaks on the grill as they shift and roll around in the back yard. They end up exhausted, Jared half on top of Jensen, panting in his face. Jensen is the first one to turn back and he throws his arm over Jared’s shoulder and presses his cheek to Jared’s cheek.

“If he does anything, Jared, I mean it…I’ll go after him tooth and claw and I’ll destroy him.”

“I never had any doubts.”

They don’t eat the steaks and Jensen ends up promising he’ll try to be nicer to Stephen. It sickens him to say it but for Jared, he’ll do it. He’s the guy’s best friend, after all.


	4. Chapter Four

Stephen starts hanging out more. Jensen expected it but it’s still a shock to get dropped of at Jared’s house and to see Stephen taking a nap on the couch or to go up to Jared’s room to get a shirt when he stains the one he’s wearing and smell Stephen on the bed. His scent starts getting ingrained in the couch cushions and Jensen can smell him in the kitchen. The food starts stinking of him and it makes Jensen gag whenever he opens the fridge.

Honestly, does the guy ever work? It seems like he’s constantly at Jared’s house or posting on Facebook or tweeting. Sometimes he shows up with raccoon eyes—he claims it’s from the makeup Oliver has to wear, but Jensen knows better than to believe that—and Jared will pull him into the bathroom and help him clean it off. Jensen is on the verge of death every single time they go into the bathroom together and he’s left standing awkwardly in the kitchen.

He spends a lot more time fooling around on his phone and absolutely not watching the videos Stephen posts to see if he mentions Jared. He does mention he’s courting someone but doesn’t go into any names. Jensen goes through the comments and relaxes when nobody guesses Jared.

His boy is safe, at least for a while.

Jared and Stephen start going places without Jensen. They start tweeting each other. Jared had gone to visit Stephen back on the _Arrow_ set in July and Jensen had nearly lost it back then. Jensen sees some of the tweets they send each other and he wants to gag.

Jared had gotten him to sign a box set for Stephen back for his birthday, and Jensen got to listen to a night of Jared giggling at his phone as he read Stephen’s live-tweets, and then he made Jensen go back to his apartment and get their PCA and take a picture with it.

And then, the next goddamn night, Stephen pulled out tickets to Pearl Jam and Jensen watched in horror as Jared practically presented right there.

Jared shows him the tweet later and Stephen called him a pearl. On Twitter. For hundreds of thousands of people to see. Jensen is practically on the verge of calling a lawyer to write out his will. Stephen spends Christmas and New Year’s with his parents and Jared goes with Jensen down to Texas. The month they’re separated is painful for everyone involved, but especially Jensen.

He’s the one who has to pull Jared out of his omega funk and literally has to dial Stephen’s number so Jared can hear his voice. He’s the one who has to tell Stephen to send his unwashed shirts in the mail because Jared hasn’t slept in two days because Jensen’s parent’s house or the hotel is too uncomfortable. He’s the one who has to change with Jared on the full moon and can barely get his friend to leave the backyard.

It’s reminds him of when Jared was so depressed Jensen ended up moving in with him because everyone was worried he was going to kill himself or at least attempt suicide. It’s difficult to know that there’s something that could fix this, and he’s God-only-knows how many miles away in Canada. Nothing could fix Jared’s depression the last time.

Jensen makes the connection between Jared being depressed in the past and thinking he’s going to be alone for the rest of his life. It doesn’t take a genius to put those two together, and Jensen definitely isn’t a genius.

He helps pull Jared out of his funk and leaves his family almost a week before they have to be back for shooting, giving Danneel long, wet kiss goodbye. She’s going to come visit in the next month or so and Jensen misses her so goddamn much it makes his fucking soul hurt to be separated from her. But he’s mated and Jared isn’t, and unmated omegas always take precedence over mated alphas.

Jared has tears in his eyes when he sees Stephen again, and Jensen nods at the other alpha before going back to his apartment, alone.

It’s the alpha in him that doesn’t like it, the whole being alone part. At least, Jensen tells himself that.

Jensen has friends. He has a lot of friends. Everyone loves him. He could do something with someone every night of the week if he so wanted. He even has friends in Vancouver. He absolutely does not hang out a lot alone in his apartment because the only friend he wants to be with is Jared.

They don’t even go out a lot. Their work schedule only allows for so much downtime, and a lot of that time, Jared spends running and working out and then eating everyone out of house and home. In the earlier seasons, they regularly had to be on set for more than 14 hours. It’s better now, but they still don’t have as much free time as they could. Jensen doesn’t work out as much as he should, but that’s just because Dean looks better with a little belly. Danneel likes his belly, anyway, and Jensen doesn’t have a problem with it. It doesn’t matter how he looks, because he knows he can protect his own.

Jensen doesn’t know how Stephen manages to do it, but whenever the two of them go out to dinner, he doesn’t hear anything about it. Usually, when he and Jared are out, they get stopped for autographs and pictures and someone always ends up talking to them, but when Stephen takes Jared out? Nothing. He knows Jared’s Twitter password and casually logs on to go through Jared’s notifications, and there’s nothing more than the usual fans telling him they love him or Sam or sending him hate.

He’s of half a mind to make an anonymous Twitter account to send Stephen hate messages, but even he’s not that petty. Well, maybe.

Jensen spends about five minutes thinking up possible usernames before throwing away that idea and logging out of Jared’s Twitter. He lifts weights for a while and then picks up his phone to call his wife. She’s always happy to talk to him, of course, and she makes a plan to come out and see him and Jared and to meet Stephen the next weekend. Something tight unwinds in his chest when Danneel tells him she loves him. She tells him he has to make reservations that day because the restaurants will be busy.

Out of all the women Jensen has been in a relationship with in his life, she’s been the only one he’s never regretted a minute with. There’s always been a little something about every woman that’s annoyed him, or they wanted to change him, or he tried to change them. Danneel has always expected for Jensen to just be Jensen, and he had never wanted anything from her that she had been unable or unwilling to give.

He probably could’ve talked to her about Stephen and Jared when he was in Texas with her, but he’d spent most of his time…physically preoccupied with her.

Before Jensen met her, he had never believed in mates. He’d always thought they were romanticized versions of compatible weres, but then he’d met Danneel, and smelled her…every single cynical bone in his body regarding mates had turned into goop.

Of course, because Danneel was practically a mind reader, she brought that up. Jensen could hear the smile in her voice as she asked, “Have you ever asked Jared if he believed in mates before Stephen? Don’t you think he was lonely?”

Because he has no filter, he whines to his _wife_ , “But he has me!”

Danneel just laughs at him. She knows him better than he knows himself. She’s his mate, his omega. No matter how much Jensen loves Jared, she knows that she’s the one that ultimately, she comes home to. There’s no competition between them. He would throw himself in front of a bullet for either of them in a second, but in the end, he’s married to Danneel. “I know you didn’t believe in mates before me, alpha. I know you told Jared that. He’s always trusted you. If anything, he unconsciously took in what you said. Don’t you think that meeting Stephen could…could’ve changed that? Helped him realize mates are real? Of course he’s going to want to spend time with him. You did the same thing when you started courting me.”

Jensen doesn’t say anything for a minute. It feels strange to have someone who isn’t Jared help him to this realization. He says that and Danneel makes a noise of agreement. “I should just talk to him,” he says. “He told me Amell is his mate but nothing like that. He should’ve…he should’ve told me that.”

“Maybe, maybe not. He doesn’t owe much of anything to an alpha he’s not mated with. You’re an alpha but you’re not _his_ alpha. The difference is big, Jensen. I know alphas that I trust with my life but I’m not going to spill secrets to them like I would to you. You need to ask him, Jensen.”

He agrees with her, of course. Danneel knows omegas. Jensen might be married to one but he’s not one. She knows how they work, of course, since she is an omega, and he does his best to follow her directions. She ends up telling him about what she’s been doing at home—still trying to get pregnant, not that him being away is helping that at all, looking for work, remodeling the office she uses—and he falls in love with her all over again.

If this is how it feels for Jared to be around Stephen, then Jensen can’t begrudge him their bond. Well, he can. Just not as much as he used to. Stephen is still an asshole, though.

He ends up falling asleep to Danneel telling him about how the dogs are doing. He never realizes how much he misses her until he hears her voice again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://twitter.com/stephenamell/status/408053469396758529  
> https://twitter.com/stephenamell/status/408057910845898752  
> https://twitter.com/stephenamell/status/408119343474417664  
> https://twitter.com/stephenamell/status/408485375628169216


	5. Chapter Five

Stephen is working late the next night—they have to shoot some night scene where Stephen has to run a lot or whatever, Jared says—so it’s just the two of them. Jared shows him a picture of Stephen wearing some ridiculous wig and Jensen’s stomach hurts from laughing so hard. Jensen brings burritos, which he regrets about ten minutes after Jared finishes his, and then he brings up mates.

“Did I ever tell you I didn’t believe in mates?”

He hasn’t had this many emotional talks in five years. It makes his stomach hurt. He wants to gag but he’s not sure its from the physical discomfort and anxiety from opening himself up or from Jared farting.

Jensen’s a good guy. He can be kind of a cynical, grumpy bastard, but he loves the people close to him. He definitely doesn’t have a lot of deep talks with anyone, not even Danneel. Sometimes people open up to him but he’s usually uncomfortable with it, or he doesn’t really reciprocate. It feels like he’s spreading himself open and someone is going to inject something in him that he won’t like or agree with. If he doesn’t open himself up to anyone, he can’t get hurt.

Jared knows all this about him, if not because Jensen has directly told him, then through years of knowing him. Jared is just like Danneel in the way that neither of them expect anything from Jensen that he doesn’t want to give.

“A few times.” Jared won’t look at him as he plays with the ice in his soda with the tip of his finger.

“Before I met Danneel, I thought mates were a bunch of shit. I thought they were romanticized nonsense from weres who met compatible weres. Then I smelled her and I saw her. And I knew I couldn’t go on without her.” He paused for a moment and Jared quickly started talking.

“I didn’t know it was Stephen at first. I was on those damn suppressants that make all my senses dull, since my heat was coming soon and I didn’t want it to interrupt shooting. We met at that network party and he kept coming up to me and giving me this _look_ , and I couldn’t figure out what it meant. I thought maybe he didn’t know why I was there, like why would this omega be hanging out with all these actors? And I was pissed, y’know? But he kept coming around, and finally I just asked why.

“He told me he thought I was his mate. He’s such an unassuming guy, I practically thought he was a beta. I told him I was on those suppressants and he just gave me this look, and I told him I’d go off them for a week. God, Jensen, the first time I smelled him…I knew there could never be anyone else. I told him you wouldn’t like it but he asked if he could court me and I couldn’t say anything other than yes.”

Jensen interrupts, “Danneel told me I probably didn’t help with any of that. I didn’t believe in mates for a long time. I know I said that around you before, and we both know the stigma of a 30-year-old unmated omega.”

Jared is practically in tears. It doesn’t even take consciously steeling himself; Jensen reaches across the kitchen table and grasps Jared’s wrists in his hands. “I thought I was gonna die alone. Alphas don’t want 6’4” omegas. They don’t want omegas who work for a living and don’t want to stop. Alphas want little subservient omegas who stay at home and keep house for them. I would go crazy doing that. Every omega pitied me, and every alpha either was disgusted by me or thought I would just bend over for them.”

He never thought it had been like that. Jensen had pulled a few knotheads off Jared but hadn’t thought there would be an alpha in the world who would’ve been disgusted by his friend. He couldn’t imagine ever…Jared is, and has always been, a ray of sunshine. He’s brightened up so many lives. He’s made Jensen’s life exponentially better. Thinking that any alpha would see him and be disgusted by his stature or his size or his personality…Jensen can’t imagine it. He believes his friend but it blows him away that that could’ve been happening for at least as long as Jensen has known him and Jensen didn’t even know.

“Stephen has never been like that. He _likes_ that I’m big. He likes that I’m always all over him and don’t ask for permission to touch him or to do what I want. I told you before, Jensen, he makes me feel safe. My wolf thinks the world of him. I would mate him tomorrow if he asked. He’s really only courting me because I know you’d be protective of me and that I never thought an alpha would want to court me.”

Thinking about Jared thinking that no alpha would ever have the honor of courting him makes Jensen’s throat tight and his chest hurt. It’s an honor for an alpha to be able to court an omega, to show their ability to provide for their mate and their ability to keep their mate safe. To know that Jared felt he didn’t deserve that honor…Jensen wants to hug him and never let him go, to keep his friend safe in his arms and promise him that he’s loved and treasured.

“I spent _years_ thinking that, Jensen. Years of knowing that there wasn’t an alpha who would want me, years of knowing I would never be courted or mated. And then you came along, the most handsome alpha I’ve ever met, saying that mates weren’t real…Jensen, I was so lost for so long.”

Jensen is on the verge of asking Jared if he wants to call Stephen to make himself feel better. If Stephen was human, he wouldn’t be allowed to stop filming unless it was an emergency, but alpha/omega pairs are given more leeway, especially courting pairs. There’s a lot of vulnerability on both parties, especially with the omega opening themselves emotionally and the alpha intentionally pushing their scents together. It’s hard on a courted omega to be away from their alpha for a long time. Stephen could tell the director that his omega needed him and he would be allowed to leave. He might get shit for it but he could leave.

It’s still a vague thought in the back of Jensen’s mind that he wasn’t enough for Jared, that he hadn’t been a good enough friend to convince Jared that everything he apparently thought about himself was wrong. Jared deserved the whole world and beyond.

“Finding Stephen was like finding a map that made me realize I'd been lost, that I didn’t know where home was. I don’t care what you think about him, Jensen. I did at first. I almost even asked him to slow the courting process even more to give you more time to be comfortable with the whole idea of us being together. But as he started courting me, I realized I couldn’t live without that anymore. I won’t leave you behind, Jensen, but I’m also not gonna drag you along.”

“You don’t have to drag me anywhere. I’m right beside you, Jared. I might not like the guy but if you know he’s your mate, I believe you. I’ve been selfish. I don’t want to see you with another alpha because it would feel like I wasn’t enough, or I hadn’t done enough to help you. I felt like you finding an alpha was…betraying me.”

“You’re not my alpha. You never even wanted to be my alpha.”

“I know. I felt like I’d taken on that role in your life, though. Maybe more of a pack alpha?”

Jared smiled at him and twisted his hands around so he could pull his wrists out of Jensen’s grasp. “Like a big brother?”

They both snorted but Jensen nodded after a moment. “Exactly. It’s not just Dean who’s protective of what’s his, y’know.”

They both sit in silence for few minutes.

Jensen still hates Stephen. It’s probably the fact that he’s an unmated alpha who likes to hang around an omega Jensen has been responsible for for a long time. Jensen might be mated but his alpha still doesn’t respond well to unmated alphas. As Stephen and Jared’s scenes have begun mixing, Jensen knows he’s started warming up to him. It’s inevitable. Jensen knew it would happen and still hates the other alpha anyway. Something in him reacts strongly to another alpha being in Jared’s life, and he can only react and try to work on not killing him whenever he comes near.

They end up migrating to the couch and Jensen swings his arm over Jared’s shoulders, Jared snuggling into his side and falling asleep. Jensen watches some boring rom-com about the ‘forbidden’ relationship between an alpha and an omega. Movies liked to give the impression that there could be alpha/omega relationships that were somehow illicit or the families wouldn’t allow either party to mate. It created drama and perhaps it had been true back when more matings were more about societal advancement or money, but Jensen knew that most weres mated for convenience or actual true matings.

Stephen shows up around 1am and he and Jensen alpha-glare at each other for a minute or so until Jensen gets up and helps Stephen wake Jared up and get him to bed.

“You stayin’ here?” Stephen asks, looking at him with tired blue eyes. He threw a bag into the corner of Jared’s room and then herded Jensen out, gently shutting the door behind them.

“Too late to go back to my place.” They both go to the kitchen and Jensen pulls out beers for the both of them. “Figure I shouldn’t ask where you’re thinkin’ of sleeping.”

Stephen snorts, running a paper towel under the faucet and rubbing it over his face. It doesn’t really remove any of the makeup but it seems like it brightens him up a bit. “How’s work for the two of you? Jared’s been real tired lately.”

“Yeah, they’re runnin’ Sam into the ground, as per usual. Jay is real connected with him and it takes a lot out of him when Sam is having it rough.”

Stephen takes a long drink of his beer and then set it on the counter, rubbing his fingers over his eyebrows. It was something Jensen noticed he did when he was a little uncomfortable or nervous. “He takes a lot of stuff personally.”

Jensen can’t do this twice in one night. He’d prefer not to do it twice in a month, or even twice in six months. There’s only so much that can be expected of a man, and emotional, chick flick talks shouldn’t be one of them. Instead, he says he’s going to bed and leaves Stephen standing in the kitchen, radiating sweaty alpha stink.

He lies awake in bed until he hears Stephen close the door to Jared’s room, Jared’s muffled voice causing something in Jensen’s heart to settle. He lies awake, worried the bedsprings are going to start creaking or the headboard is going to start banging, but all he hears is Stephen crawling into bed and then silence.

The next time he stays, he’s staying in the room in the basement. He’ll move the change of clothes he has in here and the few personal items—books, a couple pictures, a pillow he really likes—he has down to the basement. Nobody wants to be down the hall from a courting, and soon to be mated, alpha/omega pair.

The next morning, Stephen makes the three of them breakfast, putting extra cheese in Jared’s eggs and extra salt on Jensen’s. He butters both sides of his toast but only eats egg whites. He has already been up to lift weights and go for a jog. Jared probably has as well but Jensen is used to that.

Stephen even cleans up the kitchen, practically shooing the two of them out. Jared laughs at him, pressing a kiss to Stephen’s cheek, and it’s so horrifyingly domestic that Jensen nearly runs out of the room. There’s things a man shouldn’t be subject to, and that’s one of them. He wonders if Stephen is trying to show off or if he’s trying to show Jensen he can take care of Jared. Whatever he’s doing, it’s not working.

Both he and Jared get ready pretty quickly, but Stephen somehow still manages to get the kitchen cleaned and then get himself dressed before the two of them do. He meets Jared with a smile and cup of coffee. Jensen grumpily asks where his coffee is and Stephen makes one for him with a smile.

Jensen hates morning people. He’s not really an anytime person, but he’s most definitely not a morning person. Jared isn’t really a morning person either, even though he gets up at the ass-crack of dawn to run and take his dogs for a jog.

The dogs. They are in love with Stephen. They spend most of their time at full-time dog sitter’s house, but when Jared has time, they stay with him. They were dropped off this morning and while Jensen likes dogs, he doesn’t have the real, honest love for them that Jared and Danneel both do. Stephen loves dogs. Dogs love Stephen.

They both jump on him and he ends up being late to his set call because he’s out in the backyard wrestling with them. Jared shifts and gangs up on Stephen with the dogs, and ends up pinning him, tail wagging so hard that his body is shaking while he licks Stephen’s neck and face. Stephen just laughs and wraps his arms around Jared’s wolf form, and lets him.

Jensen watches them, and doesn’t even know if he would let Danneel do that to him. The thought of it makes his alpha twitchy and pissed off and even makes the human part of him uncomfortable. He doesn’t think it makes him a bad alpha. For Jensen, bad alphas are ones who don’t let their omegas do anything without permission, or force them to stay at home or quit their jobs. Some alphas give their omegas allowances and don’t let them have access to the family finances. He’s heard of alphas who find unmated omegas in heat and rape them. Part of being an alpha is being protective and possessive, often to a point that humans don’t understand, but there’s a line to be drawn where it’s healthy or unhealthy.

He doesn’t think he could ever submit to Danneel like that.

Jared and Jensen end up being late to their set call as well, but Jensen can’t find it in himself to care when Jared looks that damn happy.


	6. Chapter Six

They end up having an awful, terrible day on set. Sam is trying to recover from Dean manipulating him into saying yes to possession, and it’s really wrecking the two of them. They both love these characters like they’re real people, and being them when they’re not really brothers anymore is exhausting. It causes Jared and Jensen to strengthen their own relationship, to come together in times of trouble, to know they’re stronger together than apart, but it’s sometimes hard to get in the truck on the way to drop Jensen off at his apartment and leave each other for the night.

Jensen ends up packing a change of clothes while Jared calls Stephen. A P.A. answers his phone and Jared just about breaks down. He ends up curling up on Jensen’s couch and wrapping himself in a blanket, staring at his phone, waiting for Stephen to call him back. Jensen texts Clif and tells him to park the truck and go home for the night, because they’re not going anywhere.

He makes Jared hot chocolate and pulls out the candy. He has a whole bag of it for nights like this, where Jared is too lost in Sam’s head and emotionally wrecked from Dean’s betrayals to really pull himself out. He has to hide the bag in different places around his apartment for the times when Jared is over and bored and wants to gorge himself.

Jensen does what he normally does on nights like this and turns on the TV to some random channel and tells Jared stories he’s heard dozens of times, usually about crazy stuff he got up to as a kid or on the set of _Days_ or on the set of _Ten Inch Hero_. He makes Jared laugh when he admits to liking the mohawk or the fake piercings and the funny shirts.

Jared doesn’t talk a lot on nights like this.

Stephen calls an hour or so later and Jensen watches that last bit of tension in Jared’s shoulders finally ease out. The _Arrow_ set isn’t too far away and Stephen should be there soon. Jared stays on the phone while Jensen makes him more coffee and Stephen tells him about his day. Jensen can barely hear what he’s saying but his alpha senses can pick up a bit.

To his surprise, he breathes out a quiet sigh of relief when Stephen buzzes the intercom to be let in. When he finally makes it up to Jensen’s apartment, he feels a little territorial at the other alpha encroaching on his territory, and he makes sure he has a can of Febreze in the pantry to spray the couch down, but he gives Stephen an alpha-to-alpha nod and retreats to his room.

He showers and texts Danneel and finds out she’ll be arriving that Friday. Just three more days. Female omegas can get pregnant outside of heats, thank God, and he grins when he thinks of what they’ll get up to that weekend.

At about 10pm, he opens his bedroom door and looks out to see Stephen wrapped around Jared, who is completely passed out in his arms. Stephen is looking down at Jared like he’s the most beautiful person he’s ever seen, and he looks up to give Jensen a tired smile.

“He sure gets stuck in Sam’s head sometimes,” Stephen remarks, his voice quiet and subdued.

Jensen nods, because he can’t think of anything else to do. “I get the same way sometimes, but it’s easier for me to come out of it. When you’ve been a character for as long as we have, it’s kind of inevitable.”

Stephen snorts. “Hopefully I get a chance to know what that’s like.”

_Arrow_ is only on it’s second season. Jensen doesn’t know anything about it but something in him kind of hopes it’ll go to a ninth season as well. Well, at least a sixth season. Good way for Stephen to support Jared, at least, because _Supernatural_ probably only has a good three years left. Jensen doesn’t want it to end but that’s the thing with TV shows, they always do.

“My mate is coming into town this weekend.”

Jensen doesn’t know why he said that. He could’ve told Jared and Jared would’ve eventually relayed the message, or Stephen would’ve figured it out when Jensen invited him and Jared out to dinner with her.

Stephen looks faintly surprised and then smiles. “Double-date then, huh? This Friday? That’s pretty romantic for you, Ackles.” Something trips in Jensen’s chest but he grits his teeth and nods. “That’ll be fun. I’ve wanted to meet her for awhile now. She seems like she makes you happy.”

Jensen definitely doesn’t know what to say to that, so he just nods uncomfortably again and then kind of motions towards the extra bedroom. “There should be sheets on the bed. He’s slept here before, obviously, so he should settle in just fine.”

Stephen nods and shakes Jared awake. He blearily looks around the room and smiles sleepily at Jensen before looking up at Stephen and absolutely just melting. Like a fucking popsicle left out in the sun. Stephen herds him to the bedroom and wishes Jensen a quiet goodnight as he shuts the door behind them.

Jensen gets the Febreze and sprays the couch, ignoring how Jared and Stephen’s smells have twisted together. It’s a sign that the courting is progressing—he doesn’t know exactly what stage they’re on, but far past just roses and other simple gifts, especially if Jared’s omega is clearly comfortable sleeping with Stephen—and Stephen’s stink isn’t as imposing as it would be with Jared’s scent mingled in with it. It still makes his alpha growl in the back of his head, but Jensen manages to ignore it. He tosses the blanket Jared was using on the back of the couch and decides that putting away Jared’s candy and the half-empty mug of hot chocolate can wait until the morning.

He lies awake for a long time.

He doesn’t like where this is headed but he can’t do anything about it.


	7. Chapter Seven

By some weird set of coincidences and chances, Stephen ends up being the person to pick Danneel up from the airport. Clif was called away on a family emergency and both Jared and Jensen had to stay late on Friday night to reshoot a scene. They keep getting looks from the director and the crew like he should be more annoyed than he is about staying and working. Jensen didn’t like Danneel taking taxis and after a few long moments of watching Jensen panic, Jared had asked Stephen if he would be willing to pick her up, and then once he got an affirmation, he steals Jensen’s phone and talks to Jensen’s highly amused wife.

“Jensen probably wants me to take a taxi over Stephen picking me up,” Danneel says, and Jensen can hear the laughter in her voice. It’s true. He would rather her walk.

Jared laughs, tipping his head back, dimples creasing his cheeks. “I don’t blame him,” he teases, and Jensen watches as Stephen—who somehow managed to get on their closed set, don’t ask him how the hell that happened—practically blushes, looking like he thinks Jared is the light of the earth. Jensen hates it. Stephen gave Jared a bouquet of red roses earlier and Jared had bared his neck, eyes fluttering shut as Stephen leaned up to nuzzle him.

“Isn’t anyone going to ask me if I’m fine with this?” Jensen grumbles, and then regrets it immediately. He can hear Danneel’s laughter through the phone and Jared is practically wiping away tears. Stephen claps him on the back and rolls his eyes.

Jared puts Danneel on speaker and she says, “Even omegas are allowed to make their own choices, alpha.”

He cringes. He’s probably going to be sleeping on the couch in his own apartment tonight. Jared just laughs at him and elbows him in the stomach. “Shackles here doesn’t know its been 2014 for a month and a half!” He puts the phone back up to his ear and asks if Danneel knew what Stephen looked like. She says something that Jensen can’t quite catch through his embarrassment, but Jared pulls out his phone and takes a picture of a beaming, pleased Stephen. “Yeah, yeah, I just sent you how he looks tonight. Anyway, Danni, we gotta get back to filming.” He rattles off Stephen’s number and then ends the call, pressing a kiss to Stephen’s cheek and then dragging Jensen back on set.

The rest of the night is spent hitting his marks and constantly worrying about Danneel. He didn’t think he could worry about her more but knowing she’s going to be stuck in a car with that…that _that_ is giving him cold sweats. Jensen knows Stephen well enough that he knows Stephen won’t do anything, and a mated omega isn’t very attractive to a courting alpha, but, well, everyone has a dark side.

He checks his phone so often for updates that Jared ends up stealing it and changing the passcode so he can’t use it. Jensen threatens to break Jared in half and it ends up translating well on screen, where, predictably, Dean is blaming Sam for something that wasn’t his fault.

Jensen tries so many passcodes that he ends up locking himself out of his phone for an hour. He ends up giving up and giving his phone to Jared, who just laughs at him. They finish the scene and are finally set free for the night, and one of the P.A.’s gives them a ride back to Jensen’s apartment. Jensen stays silent the entire trip, glaring at Jared while he texts and plays games on his phone.

“Danni just texted me…they should be getting into town soon. She says we’re going out tomorrow night, and for you to find a bar. She also wants to know if you cancelled your reservations for tonight since we ended up missing them.”

Jensen grumbles and practically kicks the seat in front of him. “I can’t do either of those things if my phone is locked.”

Jared just laughs at him and hands his phone over, leaning back in his seat to smile out the window. He looks so content it hurts Jensen’s heart. His friend has always had a faint lost look in his eyes and ever since Stephen came around, it’s slowly been fading away.

He finds a bar with karaoke and figures he can ply Stephen with enough drinks to sing and make a fool of himself in front of Jared. He’s never heard Stephen sing but he can’t imagine the other alpha is any good at it, and nobody is good at karaoke when they’re drunk.

“What’s my phone code anyway?”

Jared turns and winks at him. “4592.”

It takes the rest of the few minutes until they pull up in front of the apartment complex, with Jensen staring at the lock screen of Jared’s phone, before he gets it. He palms the back of Jared’s neck and pulls his friend in for a hug.

They’ll make it through this, Jensen decides. Whether or not Stephen sticks around, he’s not going anywhere. Some overblown alpha isn’t pulling them apart.

Jensen slings his arm around his friend’s waist and pulls him into the lobby, both of them ignoring the paparazzi outside. Usually the security is better but sometimes they sneak in between shifts. Jared leans into his side and fools around on his phone—he takes a selfie of them and goes to post it on Twitter, but thankfully gets distracted when Stephen calls him. They end up riding the elevator to Jensen’s floor, not getting off, and then riding it back down to the main level.

The paparazzi get pictures of Stephen and Jared hugging, along with Jensen practically lunging at Danneel and attempting to push his tongue down her throat. She deals with him for a minute and then pulls back, raising an eyebrow and then motioning that they should go inside. A couple of the paparazzi yell a couple questions at them and one of them asks about Valentine’s Day.

Jensen freezes. Absolutely fucking freezes. He yanks Danneel inside and stares down at her. “You came to visit me for Valentine’s Day.”

She doesn’t look amused and Jensen is beyond in the doghouse. He’s not even going to be sleeping on the couch. He’ll probably have the floor if he’s lucky. “Are you really going to tell me you forgot?” she asks, and she’s not even looking at him. She’s looking outside to where Stephen is talking to the paparazzi and they’re looking like they’ve seen the devil himself.

He can’t say no because there’s literally nothing he could give her that would be a believable present. He can’t agree because days like Valentine’s Day are all on him. They’re for alphas to show their omegas that they can provide for them, even after courting. It may be a human holiday but the weres have brought it into their own traditions and accustomed themselves to it.

Jensen rubs the back of his neck and doesn’t know what to say. He opens his mouth to apologize but Jared interrupts him, pushing a wrapped box into his hands. “Of course he didn’t forget, Danni.”

She’s not convinced, but she breaks a bit to give Jared a soft smile. He elbows Jensen in the side and then goes to tap on the glass, getting Stephen’s attention. Because Jensen is in the absolute deepest shit, Danneel hands Jensen her purse and opens the present right then and there.

Jensen recognizes the Tiffany & Co. blue immediately. He absolutely does not inwardly groan for what his credit card bill is going to be this month. Instead, he only looks vaguely interested in Danneel’s reaction as she pulls out the necklace.

“Oh, alpha,” she breathes, and Jensen’s eyebrows rise as he looks down at it. Jared chose well. It’s simple, just a long chain with two interlocking circles at the end. One is rose gold and the other is white gold and covered in diamonds. It smells clean and Jensen can tell it came from their were department. She hands it up to him and he rubs the diamonds over the scent glands in his neck before undoing the clasp and holding the necklace out to her.

Jared winks at him and Jensen thinks of his phone. He nods and Jared pulls Stephen out of the apartment complex. It’s Valentine’s Day. Jensen doesn’t want to know what they’re going to do but he’s distracted enough with his own wife. She takes his hand and bares her neck. Jensen leans down to press his mouth to her warm skin and she twists her fingers in his hair.

“Don’t think you’re in the clear just because Jared remembered Valentine’s Day and you didn’t,” she mutters, but when Jensen pulls back, she’s smiling.

“I’ll make you forget I forgot,” he offers, and she accepts.

A few hours later, Jensen pushes his wife’s sweaty hair behind her ear and presses his mouth to her forehead. He finds his phone in his discarded pants and texts Jared a quick thank you. He’s surprised to get a text back just a few minutes later—it’s just a selfie with Jared winking, curled up on Stephen’s bare chest. He can only see half of Stephen’s face but he’s clearly asleep and Jensen smiles slightly.

He wonders if everything is going to work out in the end.

He thinks he got Danneel pregnant and tells Jared that. Something feels different in her scent. Jensen doesn’t think the omega’s scent changes that fast but he’s never gotten an omega pregnant before, of course.

She grabs his phone and throws it off the side of the bed. “Pay attention to me, alpha,” she slurs, and slides on top of him.

Jensen definitely isn’t thinking of Jared as he slides into Danneel and bites her neck and knots her. In fact, Jared isn’t on his mind for the rest of the night.


	8. Chapter Eight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> here's ur boy singing

Trying to get four grown adults to be ready at the same time to go to the same place is apparently impossible. Danneel has been in the bathroom—there are two bedrooms in Jensen’s apartment but only one bathroom—for over an hour, and Jensen has already pissed in the sink once. He’s not brushing his teeth in there. He also needs to do his hair and he can’t do that because Danneel yells at him whenever he tries to open the door.

Stephen keeps answering the phone whenever he calls Jared so he’s stopped doing that. Jensen hates texting and he doesn’t want to inadvertently be nice to Stephen, so he puts his phone down and turns on the TV. He ends up watching some boring show about ducks and feels like his head is going to explode.

Half an hour into the duck show, Danneel comes out of the bathroom and frowns at him. “We’re leaving soon; you should get ready,” she tells him, and Jensen sighs loudly and rolls his eyes. He’s a little too over-dramatic with his exasperation because she shoots him a reproving look as she goes into the bedroom.

He closes the door to the bathroom just as someone bangs on the apartment’s front door. Danneel calls that she’s getting it so Jensen starts brushing his teeth and he freezes when he hears Stephen’s low, quiet voice. He doesn’t hear Jared so he rushes through getting ready and hurries out of the bathroom to see Stephen showing Danneel something on his phone, leaning over her on the couch.

He’s honestly surprised at the growl that bursts out of his throat. Stephen isn’t even that close, he’s just sitting on the arm of the couch with his arm over the back of the couch, and Danneel is a good six inches away from him, if not more. Stephen still stinks of Jared. He makes the apartment reek.

Stephen holds his hands up and jumps up off the couch, backing away quickly. “I wasn’t even touching her,” he tries, but Jensen just narrows his eyes, practically baring his teeth at the other alpha. Danneel stands up and goes to get in the middle of them, but Jensen pushes her behind him, glaring at Stephen. Danneel makes a loud sound of surprise and annoyance but Jensen growls again and she quiets down.

“You don’t touch my omega.”

“I wasn’t touching her,” Stephen says, and he slowly lowers his hands. “I have an omega of my own. I don’t want yours. I know you can smell him on me, Jensen. I spent all night with him.”

Something slow and primal and fierce has awoken in the back of Jensen’s mind and all he knows is that he’s going to maim, if not kill, this foreign alpha who was encroaching on his territory and trying to steal his mate. He’s warm and his blood feels thick, and his eyesight feels sharper…something is different, it feels wrong. He doesn’t feel human anymore.

The other alpha _stinks_. He smells invasive and disgusting, but something about him is warm and flowery and feels safe. Jensen wants to gut him. He feels like he’s never been this angry in his entire life. This other alpha is trying to steal his omega and Jensen will fight to the death to defend what is his.

He takes a step forward and the other alpha takes a step back. They continue a slow, uncomfortable dance around the apartment. His omega runs into the bedroom and slams the door. Jensen feels marginally less lethal with her out of sight.

There’s a faint buzzing in the room and the other alpha’s mouth is moving. Jensen finally manages to corner him in the kitchen and he grabs the other alpha’s shoulders and slams him against the fridge. There’s a good chance he leaves a dent.

Something clears a bit in Jensen’s head and he hears the other alpha talking, telling him he doesn’t want to do this, that he didn’t do anything wrong. Something suddenly changes in the room and warm, huge hands fling Jensen across the room. He hits the wall next to his bedroom door and looks up to see Jared crowding Stephen against the fridge, hands running up and down his sides, face pressed into his neck. Stephen’s arms are tight around Jared’s shoulders and over Jared’s shoulder, Jensen can see that his eyes are squeezed shut.

Whatever feral alpha had taken over his mind slowly faded away and Jensen got to his feet, rubbing at his face. His bedroom door opened and Danneel stepped out, looking slowly between Jared and Stephen and Jensen as he leans back against the wall.

Jared turns a bit in Stephen’s embrace and licks at his lips. “You got thirty seconds.”

“I don’t know,” Jensen replies, looking down at Danneel. “He was…”

“I wasn’t touching her,” Stephen defends, quickly, and Jensen sees out of the corner of his eye that he tightens his hands in Jared’s shirt.

“He was close to her,” Jensen tries, but that’s not reason enough and none of the three of them really buy it. Danneel is looking at him like she’s never seen him before. Jared has known him the longest but he’s never lost it quite like he just did. Jared looks slightly contemplative and slowly detaches himself from Stephen, moving closer to Danneel.

Jensen starts growling again, but it’s subdued. Stephen darts around the island and puts himself between the omegas and Jensen, a hard look in his eye. He’ll allow himself to be hurt but he won’t let Jensen near either of them. Jensen understands completely. He’s trying to pull back whatever it is that’s making him this angry and it’s just not happening, not when someone is near his omega.

Quiet laughter fills the room and Jared tugs Stephen away from Danneel. Jensen goes immediately calm once there’s no one in a couple feet of her, and he reaches out for her. She frowns at him but tucks herself under his arm, leaning against his side. “Guess congratulations is in order, then,” Jared says, and Danneel is the first to get it. She gasps and wipes away tears and looks up at Jensen like he hung the moon.

Stephen sort of makes a general circle motion at his stomach when Jensen stays completely oblivious, and then he _gets_ it, lifting Danneel up and spinning her around. He presses their mouths together, regardless of their audience, and only puts her down when either Jared or Stephen clears their throat.

He looks up to see Jared smiling at him and feels honored that his best friend is here to share in this discovery with them. On Monday, he’ll find the best omega doctor in Texas and send Danneel there to get confirmation, but he can feel it in his gut that she’s pregnant. They’ve only been trying for a year or so but it’s finally time for their little family to be whole.

Danneel grins up at him and then twists around to look down at herself. “Well, pregnant or not, I didn’t spend two hours getting ready so we wouldn’t go out tonight. Bar?”

That reminds him…karaoke. He was going to get Stephen to do karaoke. Jensen honestly doesn’t think this night can get better. He smiles down at his wife and presses a kiss to her cheek, doing his best to school his features into something resembling neutral when he looks back up at the pair standing across from them. Jared knows something is up immediately but also knows him well enough to let it play out, and he’s had a rough couple of weeks. Unwinding in a bar will be good for him. He can sing and dance and make the two alphas with him jealous.

They end up leaving soon after that, Stephen making sure Jared is always between him and Danneel. He can’t take any sort of suppressors—there are alpha suppressors that will temporarily subdue his alpha stink—because he’s in the courting process and can’t take suppressors because it could mess up his omega’s heat cycle. He can, however, find a scent that masks his alpha stink and makes him at least acceptable to be around, but Jared had quickly nixed that idea, and as always, courted omegas needs came before mated omegas needs, pregnant or not. Most omegas were pampered their entire lives, but courted omegas needs were always priority. A courted omega could probably get away with murder if they timed it right, and Jensen would bet at least one or two of them had.

They end up having to call two cabs because Jensen can’t handle Stephen in such close quarters with his omega. Jared lifts his eyebrows and tells Jensen he’s going to have to get a handle on himself before following Stephen out of the taxi and watching them drive off. Jensen wraps his arm around Danneel’s shoulders and looks down at her, rubbing her arm with his thumb.

“You don’t think it happened last night, do you?”

She shakes her head. “I don’t think you would react that fast and I don’t think my scent changes that fast. I’ll ask the doctor when I make the appointment. It was probably just a coincidence and it happened over Christmas.”

Jensen nods and taps his fingers on his knee. He tugs Danneel closer up against his side and rests his chin on the top of her head. They sit in silence until they get to the bar, and then he hands the driver the money before helping her out of the car. A few people outside the bar recognize them and ask Jensen for pictures. They’re all human and he puts Danneel next to the wall near the entrance to the bar and obliges for the pictures, trying to slide into his public persona. He’s not a lot different around fans but sometimes he feels a bit more reserved.

Jared and Stephen pull up a few minutes later, and the crowd around Jensen grows bigger, people coming up on the sidewalk and seeing the three of them. A couple girls scream at Stephen and amazingly, he just smiles at them and happily takes selfies. Jensen checks to make sure Danneel is still leaning against the wall every few minutes, and every single time he makes eye contact with her and she smiles slightly at him. She takes a few pictures but Jensen quickly herds the humans away from her.

They end up apologizing to the rest of the fans and going into the bar, both alphas slipping their arms around their omega’s waists. It’s going to be all over the internet that Stephen and Jared are dating.

They herd their omegas to a table and then go get them drinks, Jensen doing his best not to glare at Stephen. He’s a bit more comfortable with the other alpha when he’s not near Danneel, and since this is a predominately human area of the city, he’s not worried about any weres near his omega. He feels over-sensitive and raw, and since he can usually smell another were within a minute or two, he thinks he’ll be able to scent a were coming into the bar within seconds.

Stephen gets Jared a martini and then tosses back two shots before getting a beer for himself. Jensen raises an eyebrow at him.

“I’m not dealing with you sober, man,” Stephen tells him, and takes his drinks back to their table while Jensen waits for the bartender to finish pouring a glass of Sprite for Danneel. He gets his beer and Danneel’s drink and goes back to the table to see Stephen already eyeing the empty karaoke stage. They haven’t even been here for ten minutes.

Jensen stops himself from snorting as he takes the empty seat between Stephen and Danneel. He’d rather not sit next to the other alpha but it’s better than having her sit next to him. Even them being within a few feet of each other is making his blood run hot and his fingers twitch.

A few fans come by but Jared and Stephen politely tell them they’re trying to enjoy their night out. They look disappointed but they get a few pictures when they sit at the closest table.

Jensen gets up to get more beers a few minutes later and the four of them start to relax. Jared scoots his chair closer to Stephen’s and asks him how the _Arrow_ set has been.

It’s pretty obvious it’s just talk to get everyone’s mind off Jensen going all over-the-top alpha earlier. Jared is still pretty uncomfortable with him and Jensen hates it, but he doesn’t know how to fix it. It’s obvious in the way his best friend’s gaze never rests on his face, only flits over him like he’s someone that doesn’t even matter. It’s nonsense because Jared has never met someone who doesn’t matter to him.

Stephen just grins. “Been working out a lot more, but you know that. I’ve been doing more of my own stunts and it’s one hell of a lot of work.”

Jared literally reaches over and grabs Stephen’s bicep. Danneel giggles and does the same thing to Jensen. Jared raises an eyebrow at her and then suddenly strips off his flannel shirt, revealing he’s wearing a white tank top underneath. He lifts one arm and flexes it, popping his eyebrows up. Danneel laughs and does the same thing, thankfully leaving her shirt on and only pushing up her sleeve.

“Looks like my boy has some muscle on me,” Stephen muses, reaching over to feel Jared’s muscles.

Jensen is going to be sick. He’s absolutely going to vomit all over the table. He feels worse than that time he did hot yoga and told the instructor he was going to puke.

_My boy_ has always been Jensen’s thing. It’s something he got from his upbringing. Just a Texas thing. Every good southern boy has friends and then he has his boys. Hearing someone call Jared that…it makes him sick to his stomach.

“How about karaoke?” he blurts out, and Stephen jumps to his feet, like he was waiting for a goddamn invitation. No one is on the stage but the machine is ready. It’s probably not late enough in the night yet for everyone to be drunk enough, but Stephen is just a karaoke kind of guy, apparently.

The kind of alpha Jensen always had in his mind for Jared was never a karaoke kind of alpha. He just wouldn’t be. Maybe this will show Jared that Stephen is just crock full of shit and isn’t the right alpha for him. This will show Jared that Jensen will find the right alpha for him and if the guy isn’t out there, then Jared can just come and live with Jensen and Danneel and never, ever leave Jensen behind.

Stephen presses a kiss to Jared’s cheek—there are definitely fangirls who get a picture of that, Jensen has no doubt—and flounces up to the stage like he’s a goddamn fairy. The bartender hollers out something and the bar cheers. It takes a few minutes for Stephen to find the song he’s looking for and during that, Jared thankfully puts his shirt back on. He even buttons a couple buttons and Jensen breathes a quiet sigh of relief.

He brings his chair around so he’s sitting next to his omega and he slings his arm around her shoulder and kicks back. Time to enjoy the show.

It starts off immediately and Jensen doesn’t recognize it at first, but the bar does. A bunch of people jump to their feet, Jared amongst them. He’s the biggest guy in the audience and it’s goddamn obvious Stephen is looking straight at him, with clear as hell hearts in his eyes. He practically looks like that goddamn yellow face that Danneel sends him sometimes, the smiley that has hearts instead of eyes. Jensen hates that smiley almost as much as he hates Stephen.

Danneel elbows him. “You could take a hint or two from him,” she tells him, and Jensen nearly scoffs at her. What, learn how to be an attention hog who likes to sing in front of strangers? Sing a song he didn’t even write? Please. Stephen is hiding a goddamn douchebag interior behind that sweet-boy exterior, Jensen goddamn knows it. Stephen is just a better actor than he was planning on, that’s all.

“ _Baby, you a song, you make me want to roll my windows down, and cruuuuise_.” Stephen is goddamn crooning. Jensen refuses to admit it but the guy isn’t half bad. He’s obviously never had any singing lessons but he’s not too out of tune.

No, scratch that, Stephen is a fucking shitty singer, and Jensen hates him. He’s singing a country love song to Jared. He’s the worst singer on the planet.

The bar is going wild. Everyone is singing along but it’s damn obvious Stephen is only singing to Jared. Danneel damn near has tears in her eyes. It better be the hormones or a physical reaction to hearing Stephen’s awful singing. He’s going to burst Jensen’s eardrums at this rate.

Stephen sings the first verse with female pronouns but looks vaguely uncomfortable with it. There’s probably more cell phones out videoing him than there ever have been before.

He rolls right through the chorus and takes a long swallow of his beer. Jared pushes through the slight crowd of people to stand at the bottom of the stage. Stephen looks right goddamn at him when he sings the next verse.

“ _He was sippin’ on Southern and singin’ Marshall Tucker; We were falling in love in the sweet heart of summer; He hopped right up into the cab of my truck and said, ‘Fire it up, let’s go get this thing stuck’_.”

The switching of the pronouns is pretty fucking obvious. Jensen pulls to his feet to get a better read on the crowd. A couple of people are looking a little confused but when they see Jared, practically in tears because he’s the biggest, gayest romantic Jensen has ever known, they grin and start singing along again. Danneel stands next to Jensen and shouts, “You better sing next!”

He wouldn’t be caught dead singing fucking karaoke in a bar the day after Valentine’s Day, but for some reason, Jensen starts scrolling through the music he has on his phone and comes across the perfect song. He can sit through the rest of Stephen’s godawful singing if he gets to yell this out right afterwards.

“ _Baby you a song, You make me wanna roll my windows down and cruise. Down a back road blowin’ stop signs through the middle; Every little farm town with you; In this brand new Chevy with a lift kit; Would look a hell of a lot better with you up in it. So baby you a song, You make me wanna roll my windows down and cruuuuise; When that summer sun fell to its knees, I looked at him and he looked at me, And I turned on those KC lights and drove all night, 'Cause it felt so right, he and I, man we felt so right_.”

Jensen kisses his wife and then makes his way to the little computer that has all of the songs set up for the TV up above the raised platform that’s acting as the stage. He finds his song and catches Jared’s eye.

Jared looks so fucking happy. He’s all dimpley and his smile could outshine the sun. His arms are all loose and the tension he’s been holding in his shoulders from everything that Sam’s been put through is just gone. He looks like an omega whose alpha is hanging him the keys to the kingdom. Jensen feels a little bad for doing this to him but nothing he’s done so far has gotten the message across.

“ _I put it in park and grabbed my guitar and strummed a couple chords and sang from the heart, boy you sure got the beat in my chest bumpin’. Hell, I can’t get you out of my head_.”

Jared looks like Stephen just proposed to him. Jensen swallows through a sudden, inexplicable lump in his throat. He’s absolutely not having second thoughts. When he puts his mind to something, he does it regardless of the consequences.

For the first time, he wonders if he’s not doing the right thing.

That thought is pretty much erased when Stephen pulls Jared up onto the stage and sings the rest of the song directly to him. The amount of camera flashes almost blinds Jensen. Stephen finishes the song—it’s basically just repeating the chorus way too many times—while literally staring into Jared’s eyes, like they’re teenagers who think they’re in love.

Jensen literally stumbles back when Stephen drops the microphone and bends Jared over backwards to kiss him. The bar screams. A girl next to Jensen nearly bursts one of his eardrums and she literally jumps up and down. Stephen straightens Jared up and escorts him off the stage. They go stand next to Danneel and Jensen doesn’t even notice that Jared slings one long arm over her shoulders. He can see them talking but it doesn’t even register to him. Stephen looks exhilarated and Jared is practically on top of him. Their hands are tangled together and Jensen takes a deep breath and knows he has to do this.

His song starts right as he picks up the microphone. “ _I got a little change in my pocket going ching-a-ling-a-ling, Wanna call you on the telephone, baby, give you a ring; But each time we talk, I get the same old thing_.”

He sings. Jensen puts whatever is left of his soul into this song. He doesn’t look past the crowd to see anyone’s reaction. The bar is quiet for the first couple words but then loses it, everyone stomping and singing along. There are camera flashes but not as many. Jensen doesn’t care. This is for Stephen. This has got to be the only way to finally tell the other alpha who Jared really belongs to.

“ _Always, ‘No huggee, no kissee until I get a wedding ring,’ My honey, my baby, don't put my love upon no shelf, She said, ‘Don't hand me no lines and keep your hands to yourself’_.” He puts emphasis on ‘keep your hands to yourself’ and finds Stephen’s shocked gaze past the rows of people. The other alpha knows exactly what he means. There’s no subtlety here. Jensen doesn’t have time for it anymore.

“ _Ooh, baby, baby, baby, why you gonna treat me this way? You know I'm still your loverboy, I still feel the same way. That's when she told me a story 'bout free milk and a cow, And said, ‘No huggee, no kissee until I get a wedding vow’, My honey, my baby, don't put my love upon no shelf. She said, ‘Don't hand me no lines and keep your hands to yourself’_.”

He absolutely does not look at Jared.

Danneel looks furious.

He finishes the last verse and looks directly at Stephen when he sings the last line, “ _She said, ‘Don't hand me no lines and keep your hands to yourself’_.”

The bar erupts in cheers and Jensen forces himself to smile as he hands the mic off to the lady who comes up next to sing. He breaks through the crowd and manages to keep that same uncomfortable smile on his face.

“Anyone up for shots?” he asks, clapping his hands together.

Jared looks devastated and Stephen looks a strange mix of unsure and awkward, and there’s a good six inches between him and Jared. He doesn’t dare look at Danneel.

She picks up her purse and clears her throat. Jensen’s eyes flick to her without his consent. “You’re going to go pay the bill and meet us out front,” she tells him, and her voice is quiet and soft. Jensen doesn’t know how he hears her over the music. He just nods and does what he’s told.

Stephen is gone by the time Jensen manages to order another shot, down it, pay his bill, and then weed through the packed bar and get outside. There’s a cab waiting for them and both Danneel and Jared are absolutely silent on the way back to Jensen’s apartment. He tries to make conversation—probably something stupid about the clear night and all the stars—but they both refuse to look at them.

Jared doesn’t get out when the driver pulls up to the front of Jensen’s building, and he just shoots this soft, torn-apart look at Danneel and then pulls out his phone and looks at the screen. Jensen shuts the door and winces when Danneel’s nails dig into his arm and drag him towards the door.

She’s absolutely fuming. Jensen couldn’t smell it when they were at the bar or in the cab, probably from adrenaline and being overloaded with people stink, but it’s coming off of her in waves now. Jensen can practically see it.

He doesn’t dare try to talk the entire silent elevator ride, and he also doesn’t try to dig her nails out of his arm. He does vaguely wonder if there are going to be marks come Monday, because make-up probably won’t be too happy with him.

Danneel practically shoves him into his apartment and just bursts wide open.

“You asshole! How dare you!”

“I needed to tell him—”

“There’s no defending yourself here, Jensen! You were so out of line I don’t even know where to begin! You didn’t need to tell Stephen _anything_!” She takes a deep breath and throws her purse onto the couch. She stabs a finger into his chest and backs him up against the wall.

“You have nothing to do with Jared and his relationship! Nothing! I don’t know what it’s going to take to get that through your stupid, thick skull, but you were out of line! When I told you to sing a song, I meant to sing a love song because you forgot Valentine’s Day. I was trying to give you an easy way to make up for having your friend buy your mate jewelry for you because it was obvious you forgot. You’re an _idiot_ , Jensen Ackles. I’ll be surprised if Jared ever talks to you again.” She takes a deep breath and steps away, shaking her head.

“I’m surprised I don’t feel more regret mating you right now.”

It tears through him like a knife. Danneel telling him that nearly brings him to his knees. He feels cold and hot at the same time, like his skin is burning off his body and his insides are turning into ice inside of him.

“Don’t you—don’t you dare say that to me.”

She whirls on him. “How dare I?! I shouldn’t have even come back with you tonight! I should’ve gone home with Jared and hoped you hadn’t fucked up whatever bond he and Stephen were forming. You know Stephen walked out, right? You know Jared called him and texted him and he didn’t answer. Do you know what you could’ve done? Do you know what it does to a courting omega to have their alpha ignore them? To have their alpha walk away from them like that? Of course you don’t, because you never think of anyone other than yourself.”

She goes into the bedroom and Jensen staggers to a chair, dropping himself into it. He’s rubbing the palm of his hand over his heart for a long minute until he realizes what he’s doing.

His head feels fuzzy and his eyes hurt. That lump in his throat from earlier is back. His mouth is dry and the room looks like it’s trying to spin.

Danneel comes out a few minutes later with a small bag, and she’s changed into sweatpants and one of Jensen’s t-shirts. She grabs her purse and glares at him. “I’m going to Jared’s for the night. If you follow me, I will call the police. Goodnight, alpha.”

He doesn’t manage to rasp her name until long after the door has slammed behind her.

Once again, Jensen has ruined everything. He’s of half a mind to spend the night pitying himself, but instead he shakes his head and pulls out his phone. He tries three times to write an apology text to Jared, but nothing looks right.

He shouldn’t even be apologizing. After all, his goal was for Stephen to leave, and he clearly accomplished that. He might be in the doghouse for a few days—it seems like it might actually be weeks, or even months—but when Jared finally comes out of whatever funk this is, he’ll see that Jensen was just helping him. There’s no way Jensen is in the wrong here.

Jensen falls asleep in the chair and wakes up Sunday afternoon with a crick in his neck and a sore back. He checks his phone and there aren’t any texts or missed calls. Huh. Well, it was probably hard for Jared to come to terms with Stephen leaving like that, and he’s going to take that out on someone. Jensen will take the brunt of it if that means Stephen stays away.

He spends the rest of Sunday doing laundry and puttering around his apartment, definitely not obsessively checking his phone. He also absolutely doesn’t write out 15 drafts of apology texts to Jared. He even doesn’t consider calling Amell. He sends a ‘How is he?’ text to Danneel, but she never replies.

The next morning, when Jared isn’t in the backseat of the network car, Jensen starts to realize that he might’ve fucked up beyond all repair. Clif just shrugs at him and hands him his coffee.

“Dunno what to tell you, buddy. Your mate came out of his house this morning and said he’d taken a cab to work. Was he sick or something? Thought it was weird she was there and you weren’t.”

He tries to say something but the words get stuck in his throat. He looks down and stares at his lockscreen. There are no texts or missed calls.

Maybe he went too far. Just maybe.


	9. Chapter Nine

Jared refuses to talk to him unless they’re filming, and he’s all business. He refuses to look Jensen in the eye unless he’s Sam. Sam is still standoffish but he’s better than he was before, and it takes Jensen a few times to get the shower scene right. Usually Jared is behind the camera, yelling obscenities about Jensen’s ass and making the potentially uncomfortable scene comfortable. He’s never been a huge fan of shower scenes. They only read through the lines of the couple scenes he and Jared have together and Jensen tries to pull him aside at the end of the day but Jared shakes him off. He spends the car ride back to his apartment trying to draft another apology text to Jared, but it’s fruitless. He can’t get the words out because he doesn’t know what the hell to say.

Danneel is at his apartment when he finally drags himself through the door. Usually he showers after a day on set, but since he spent most of the morning in the shower, he’s about as clean as a whistle. She purses her lips and Jensen wants to bite them.

“I’m just picking up more clothes, alpha,” she tells him, and her voice is as hard as ice.

“How’s he doing?” Jensen asks, and they’re both surprised by it.

“Well, Stephen hasn’t answered any of his calls or texts, and Jared even went over to the _Arrow_ set on his lunch break—oh you didn’t know that, did you? Probably spent your whole lunch sitting in your trailer feeling sorry for yourself—and security told him that Stephen specifically asked them not to let Jared on the set.”

That’s exactly what Jensen had been doing over his lunch. He’d grabbed food, hadn’t seen Jared, and had retreated to his trailer to sit in the dark and wait for Clif to bang on his door to tell him it was time to go back to set.

“So, as you can imagine, he’s not very happy. He told me last night he was waiting for Stephen to walk away.” She looks at him like that’s his fault. “Jared said he’s known Stephen was too good for him, that he’s too ugly and tall for any alpha to want him, and he guessed that this was as good of an excuse for him as anything. After all, don’t you know him better than anyone, Jensen? You should know when an alpha is too good for your friend.”

“That’s—that’s not what it was,” he tries, and it comes out of him in a hoarse croak. “Stephen isn’t good enough for Jared.”

Danneel makes a tiny ‘hmmph’ sound and picks up her bag. “Of course that’s how your friend would see it,” she tells him, and her voice is as sweet as poison.

She pats him on the chest and leaves.

He ends up taking a shower anyway, staring at the wall while hot water slams down on his back and his shampoo drips down his face. He halfheartedly scrubs at his chest and then stares down at himself.

Jared has never seemed to be very insecure. Jensen knew had had problems accepting an alpha would want him, but he’d always thought that he would be a good enough interim alpha for Jared to feel like he belonged to someone.

He scrubs the shampoo out of his hair and steps out of the shower without toweling himself off, staring at himself in the fogged-up mirror like Dean had done that morning. He doesn’t see the alpha he thought he was looking back at him.

Instead, Jensen sees a cruel, misshapen man, who likes to pull his friend away from an alpha who is good to him. He sees someone who gets cruel joy out of ripping at the bond between a courting alpha and an omega. He sees someone he does not recognize.

He doesn’t even realize he has his cell phone up to his ear until Stephen picks up the phone.

“You’ve got bigger balls than I thought you did if you’re calling me,” Stephen tells him, and there’s something cruel and dark in his voice. He still sends a cringe through Jensen’s body and Jensen just about hates him even more, but there’s something soft in his chest now, something that very nearly understands.

“You need to call him back. He has nothing to do with what I did.”

Stephen sighs and it sounds tortured. It sounds like he’s pulling a chair out from a table and Jensen knows he’s sitting down. Jensen locks his knees and stares at himself in the mirror, feeling like he has to face himself for what he’s done.

“You’re gonna tell me why you did that and then I’m going to tell you why I’m not calling him back.”

Jensen blinks and steadies himself on his feet. He goes for brutal honesty. “I don’t like you, Stephen. You’ve always rubbed me wrong. You’re too nice, too giving. You don’t act like a goddamn alpha. I’ve been trying to tell him that you’re not right for him from the start. I was fine with you two flirting…well, no, I wasn’t. I hated it. But I accepted it because I thought it wouldn’t go any further.

“And then you started courting him and I couldn’t take it anymore. I did everything I could to pull you apart. I even pretended like I accepted it, I’ll admit that. I thought it would blow over. And then you sang that damn song and I couldn’t take it anymore. I had to do…something.”

He couldn’t look at himself any longer and went into his bedroom to sit on his bed. Jensen cradles his forehead with his free hand and stares at his toes.

“So you told me to keep my hands to myself, then? Very effective.” Stephen sighs. “I don’t know what it’s going to take you to understand that Jared is not your omega. He’s not even your family, no matter if you think of him as a brother or not. He’s his own person and he can make his own decisions. You’ve been deciding his life for him and I couldn’t take it anymore. I can’t be in a relationship with an omega, no matter how much I love him, if he is practically mated to an alpha who already has a goddamn omega.

“I can’t do that to myself, and I especially can’t do that to Jared. He’s being constantly pulled between us and ripping him apart like that is unfair to everyone involved. You either need to take a fucking step back and you need to accept Jared doesn’t belong to you, or you need to tell him you can’t get your own head out of your own ass and lock him up. I’m not stepping down. I’ll fucking fight for him. But you’re the one who is forcing himself into a relationship you have no part of, and so, no, I’m not going to answer Jared’s calls or texts or anything until you goddamn apologize to him.”

Stephen hangs up and Jensen is left alone with himself.

He drops his phone to the floor and wiggles his toes.

Jensen goes to the kitchen and finds a microwavable burrito stuffed all the way back in the freezer. He watches it turn slowly in the microwave and wonders what the fuck he’s going to do.

Obviously, he has to apologize to Jared. Probably Danneel, too, for ruining a Valentine’s Day that he’d already wrecked. He’s going to have to somehow come to terms with the fact that Jared isn’t his. It probably hasn’t made his omega feel like she belongs to him with Jensen being this fixated on someone else. She’s always accepted him, but Jensen knows there’s only so much that can be expected of her.

He takes the burrito out of the microwave and picks it up, hissing as it burns his fingers. He almost drops it, and then forces himself to eat it, burning his tongue and the roof of his mouth.

It tastes like garbage, and he eats it anyway.

After finishing the burrito, he gets a glass of water and then goes back to his bedroom, picking up his phone from the floor and going to Jared’s contact name. After a few minutes of deliberation, he ends up calling Danneel instead.

She answers and she sounds grumpy, but at least she answers. “Yes, alpha?”

“I talked to Stephen. Is…is Jared there?”

“Well, I would hope so, since this is his house.” He hears her move on the other end of the line and then he hears Jared’s voice. Jensen’s heart catches in his throat.

“He’ll talk to you,” Danneel tells him, and then hands the phone off. Jared clears his throat and Jensen takes a deep breath, dropping to sit on the ground, back against his bed.

“Hey buddy.”

“Jensen,” Jared greets, and his voice is quiet and cold. The two of them stay silent for a long minute and then Jensen forces himself to break the ice. He’s the one who did wrong and he has to fix that, no matter how sick it makes him feel.

“I talked to Stephen,” Jensen tells him, and Jared takes in a quiet breath.

“What—what did he say?” Something sounds broken in him and Jensen thinks it’s his fault. “Is he okay?”

“He was pretty pissed at me, but yeah, I think he’s alright.” Jared lets out this broken sob and it sounds like he slaps a hand over his mouth to muffle the sound, and Jensen winces, knowing he said the wrong thing. “No, buddy, don’t you do that. I didn’t mean it like that. He was real down. He’s not doing well, and it’s my fault.” Jensen takes a deep breath and leans his head back against his bed. “You’re not doin’ well, either. I gotta apologize, Jared.”

Jared is crying, and Jensen’s arms literally ache to hug him. “He won’t—he won’t talk to m-me! He’s been ignoring all my calls and…god, Jensen, I knew this would happen. I knew Stephen was too good for me. I just didn’t realize I would be so attached to him. He’s it for me, Jensen, and you thinking I’m not good enough for him…it makes me sick.”

The truth is twisting around in Jensen’s chest and he hates himself for letting it get this far. He feels disgusting. “Jared, you’ve got it all wrong. I never thought you weren’t good enough for him. He’s not good enough for you, Jared. He’s a jackass, buddy. He acts like he’s a sweetheart, but I can tell that he’s just another douche alpha. I didn’t want you to get hurt, and that ended up happening anyway, because I’m an asshole. I told Stephen that. This has all been my fault, and I’m sorry.”

Jared takes a deep breath and then a few more, and Jensen can hear him wiping away tears. “I don’t…know what to say, Jensen. I’m just stuck. I feel like I see this incredible guy in Stephen, this huge guy who really seems to care about me and takes care of me, and then you come around and make me feel like shit for wanting him to be my alpha. Every single time he comes around, you say things about him that make me feel awful for even wanting him. And the only reason I can think of you for doing that is because you know I’m not good enough for him.”

Jensen hates repeating himself, which is a strange thing to hate in a job where he spends a lot of time working on the same lines or going over the same scenes. Like so many other things, he puts his personal discomfort aside for Jared. “I’m sorry, Jared. I never thought me hating him would turn into this. I never thought you were the one at fault here, it’s always been him. There’s nothing wrong with you, and you”—Jensen takes a deep breath and squeezes his eyes shut—“deserve Stephen. Please, just call him. I think he’ll answer now. If he doesn’t, tell me, and I’ll call him again.”

Jared is still crying, and Jensen can hear the tears in his voice. “I just miss him, Jensen. I just want him back. I know I don’t…I don’t deserve him, but god, I’ll do whatever it takes. My omega is screaming for him and everything smells weird. I just need him back.”

“It’ll be alright,” Jensen promises, and he hopes he’s right. Jared ends up hanging up and Jensen sits on the floor for a long time, staring at the blank screen of his phone, wondering if he should text Jared or call Danneel again. He’s even willing to call Stephen again.

An hour later, his phone dings, and Jensen looks down at the screen to see a text from Jared.

All it says is: _:)_.

Jensen smiles himself and lies on the floor, squeezing his eyes shut and forcing himself to sleep. He wakes up in the middle of the night and pulls the blanket from his bed down on top of himself, and goes back to sleep. He sleeps poorly, dreaming of Danneel telling him that she doesn’t think she’s worthy of being his omega.

Strangely enough, he wakes up in tears, and spends most of the extra half an hour he has before he has to get up staring at the ceiling, wondering how much longer it’ll take for him to make even more mistakes. He hopes that he didn’t, at the very least, irrevocably shatter his relationships with his wife and Jared. Jensen has always thought of himself as a strong, independent man, but he’s slowly coming to realize that he’s nothing without the people who care for him.


	10. Chapter Ten

Jared is in the truck when Jensen finally manages to get dressed and make it out of his apartment. He tackles Jensen with a hug and practically kisses him. Jared doesn’t smell like Stephen but he doesn’t smell unhappy.

“We talked, a lot. He’s going to take me out to dinner tomorrow and then you’re going to take us out to dinner this weekend.”

Jensen cups the back of Jared’s neck and pulls him in again, ignoring the way Clif looks at them in the rearview mirror. Jared hooks his chin over Jensen’s shoulder and twists his fingers in Jensen’s shirt. Two days of separation and alienation has been too much for the both of them.

“And Danneel said she’ll spend the night with you tonight. She found a doc back in Texas that will check her out Friday afternoon. She definitely smells different, Jensen. Smells pregnant.” Jared pulls back and smiles happily at Jensen, looking like an excited puppy, his hair wild around his face. He must’ve run out of the house before he could brush it.

“How are you doing, then?” Jensen asks, and Jared shrugs, curling in on himself a bit, retreating back to his seat.

“I’m okay. I just…I don’t know why all this happened. I’m not gonna think about it anymore. I’m just going to look forward to seeing my alpha again and I’m going to do my best not to hold it against you. I try not to be a bitter person, Jensen, and I think you know that.” Jensen nodded in agreement. “Everyone makes mistakes, even you.”

They smile at each other and then sit in silence. Jensen reaches over to pat Jared on the knee before sitting back in his seat. The tightness that had been twisted around in his chest and squeezing his heart is pretty much gone, and Jensen feels like everything is right with the world.

Of course, he sees Stephen again later, and all those good feelings vanish immediately.

The other alpha stops by for lunch—he was only filming in the morning and had the afternoon off—and gives Jensen a dark look before talking with Jared, very obviously keeping a distance between Jensen and himself. Jensen gets himself lunch and sits across the table from them, forcing himself not to grit his teeth at the way they’re eating off the same plate or Stephen has his arm around Jared’s waist.

Jensen stays quiet. Stephen is still obviously pissed at him and Jensen doesn’t blame him. It feels strange to realize just how badly he fucked up. He still feels like he didn’t have a choice, but maybe Stephen and Jared are right, that he’s not involved in their relationship at all. He still has a deep need to push them apart, to tell Jared that Stephen is obviously hiding something and that Jared will just end up hurt, but Jared doesn’t feel that at all, and he thinks if there’s anyone that will, it would be Jared. He’s always been more intuitive and empathic than Jensen, anyway.

Jared and Stephen flirt over salad and burritos and Stephen even laughs when Jared farts. Jensen rolls his eyes and points his fork at Jared’s second burrito. “You better not finish that. We got a long night in the car.”

Jared laughs at him and elbows Stephen in the side. “Maybe Dean will get a new face for an episode.”

“Don’t think Dean is supposed to have a boner for his brother,” Stephen mutters, and Jensen gags around his food, making Jared laugh again. Stephen winks at Jensen and then takes a drink of his soda, tilting his head back and filling the table with his stink. Jensen hates it and feels his hackles rise up, but he doesn’t say anything.

Knowing he did wrong and accepting it were two different things. He’s been uncomfortable around Stephen for months, and that doesn’t change in a couple days just because he sort of wants it to. He doesn’t want to acknowledge that he did something wrong, but he does want everything to go back to the way it was before he fucked it all up.

Jared is still uncomfortable around him. Jensen can tell. He’s not the most intuitive guy, but he can tell. Him going all alpha and then practically shoving his knot in Stephen’s face didn’t help matters. Jared is forgiving, though. He’s always been forgiving, and he pretty much has to be, since Jensen is about as socially aware as a bag of rocks.

They end up talking for a few minutes longer before Stephen says he’s going to go—he doesn’t want Sam distracted all afternoon, thank god—and Jared rubs his cheek on Stephen’s neck before he leaves. Jensen watches Stephen stroll off with his heart in his throat. Jared only has one scene to do that afternoon while Jensen has a couple, but Jared comes with him for moral support.

Moral support for Jared is throwing pies in people’s faces or stealing Jensen’s clothes from wardrobe. He also likes to lock Jensen’s trailer or steal all his toilet paper and then bribe the P.A.’s to not bring him any more. Really an upstanding citizen, that guy.

Jensen loves the shit out of him.

They have a good day on set. Jensen gets to drive the Impala and Jared manages to restrain himself from farting them out of existence. Jensen really has no idea how Stephen manages to put up with it. They slept in the same bed once and Jensen ended up crawling to the floor because Jared filled the goddamn room with his ass-stink.

Danneel meets them back at Jensen’s apartment. Jared stole Jensen’s favorite pair of sunglasses and is keeping them ransom—he hasn’t named exactly what he’s ransoming them for, but Jensen has long ago stopped asking—and they’re both giggling like schoolchildren when they stumble into his apartment. She gives Jared a hug and tells him to give Jensen his sunglasses back.

Jared pouts and throws himself dramatically on the couch, pulling Jensen’s sunglasses out of his pocket and pushing them onto his face. He uses his palm on the glass to push them on. He’s literally a heathen.

Jensen is in awe of him.

“Aw, Shackles, you really don’t want them back, do you? You never paid my ransom.”

Danneel interrupts before Jensen can say anything and he’s about as in love with her as its possible for a were to be. “Is your ransom a kiss?”

Jared sputters, “Why would I want to kiss _Jensen_?”

She turns her nose up at him and leans up to press a long, wet kiss to Jensen’s cheek. He wraps an arm around her waist and rubs his cheek on her forehead. Jared pretends to gag and something eases in Jensen’s gut. “Give him his glasses back and I won’t make you kiss him,” Danneel says, and Jared looks at them over the glasses, something sparkling in his eyes. He looks horrified at the very thought.

Jared tosses Jensen’s sunglasses back to him and all three of them watch as they fall short and drop to the floor. There’s a long moment of silence before Jared jumps to his feet and claps his hands. “Well, that’s it for me! Enjoy your night, lovebirds,” he tells them, and hedges around the sunglasses to the door, and he scampers outside like an untrained puppy.

Danneel picks up the sunglasses for him and Jensen cradles them in his hands. “He just…threw them,” he mutters, and Danneel rolls her eyes.

“Go shower, you big weirdo. Your douche-glasses are fine.”

“Douche-glasses!” Jensen exclaims. He absolutely doesn’t shriek, even though his throat hurts from how loudly he exclaims. Alphas don’t shriek, and Jensen is extremely manly and tough and a very imposing alpha. Betas and omegas cower before him.

“Yeah, you only wear them when you wear a backwards baseball cap, alpha. They’re douche-glasses. You look like a douche when you wear them, like some sort of high school jock who dropped out but still goes to high school parties.”

Jensen lets her herd him to the bathroom and threatens to knot her to make her forget he’s a douche. Danneel just laughs at him and smacks his ass. Jensen has never been so offended in his entire life.


	11. Chapter Eleven

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> gross

Jared and Stephen have dinner the next night, and Jared comes to work walking on sunshine. Jensen bends down to watch him walk and is pretty sure he’s not actually touching the ground. It’s horrifying. Jensen is absolutely horrified. He’s sure his horror translates well on screen, because they have to reshoot a bunch of scenes because Dean looks like he just saw a ghost.

The next few days are normal enough, and Jensen feels himself settling back into a comfortable rhythm. He doesn’t see Stephen at all and he’s confident Danneel has his pup growing in her belly. He knotted her a few times and sent her home with his come still warm inside of her. If she wasn’t pregnant before, she definitely is now.

He spends all of Friday in something that’s definitely not a tizzy. He’s just stressed and nervous. Jared tells him he’s in a tizzy and he nearly tackles the omega. Alphas don’t do tizzies. It’s not in their genes.

She calls him right as he’s getting in the truck on Friday night. Jared perks up at the ring and practically leans on top of Jensen in order to hear what she’s saying.

There are tears in her voice. Jared’s hand clutches at Jensen’s knee. “Alpha…he said…”

Jensen interrupts, “Whatever he said, Danni, it’s fine. We’ll work through this together, I promise. We’ve only been trying for a year. Sometimes it takes mates years…it’ll be alright, even if you’re not pregnant.”

The tears clear from her voice and Jensen slams his head against the back of the seat when she laughs at him. “I’m pregnant! Just about five or six weeks along but, alpha, I’m pregnant!”

Jared practically tackles him and smacks a kiss to Jensen’s cheek as he steals his phone. “I’m so happy for you! When’s the baby due? Do you know the sex yet? Do you have names picked out? If it’s a boy, you should name him Jared, after me, of course. I don’t even think Jensen knows any other Jared’s.” He trails off as Jensen tries to get his phone back, and after Jensen bares his teeth at him, Jared laughs at him, all dimples and white teeth, before handing Jensen his phone back.

“You’re pregnant? For real?” Jensen can’t speak any louder than a whisper. His entire world has changed. He’s going to be a _father_. “I’m gonna be a dad?”

Danneel is smiling and Jensen reaches over to put his hand on top of Jared’s hand. Jared presses their palms together and squeezes his long fingers around Jensen’s hand. Jensen squeezes back. “Yes, alpha, you’re gonna be a daddy.”

He breathes out and Danneel tells him all about her appointment. Jensen wishes more than anything in the world that he could’ve been there, but working on TV show doesn’t exactly allow for outside activities. It barely allows him time to sleep. They took blood and urine to test her hormone levels and she’s going to go back in a few weeks for an ultrasound. Were pups grow a bit differently than human fetuses—slower development to start out with, and then a lot of growth in the past few months—and it’s harder on were carriers than it is for human carriers.

He doesn’t even notice Jared pulling him out of the truck as they get to his house. He’s too focused on what his wife is telling him to notice that Stephen is hanging out in Jared’s kitchen, and he goes straight to the living room to drop on the couch and listen to her sweet voice. Everything about her is music to him.

They end up hanging up after a few minutes and Jensen sits in silence, blinking at his phone. “I’m gonna be a dad,” he croaks, and then jerks when Stephen chuckles from behind him and then gives him a loud, booming congratulations.

Jensen looks up and turns around, a large wave of Stephen’s alpha-stink wafting over him. Jared has his arm around Stephen’s shoulders and he’s looking at Stephen like he’s sunshine on a cloudy day. Jensen wrinkles his nose but thanks the other alpha anyway. “They think she’s about a month and a half along. An omega’s scent will change right around a month, which was last Thursday or Friday. It must’ve happened over Christmas or New Years.” Jensen trails off and literally finds himself smiling happily at the pair sitting in the kitchen. “I’m going to be a dad!”

Jared squeezes Stephen’s shoulder and beams at him. “As congratulations, you’re taking us out to dinner,” Jared tells him, and elbows Stephen in the side. Stephen grins like a hooligan.

Jensen is too damn happy to disagree or argue. He’ll spend all night with Stephen if he has to. He shrugs and stands up, staring down at his phone like it has given him the meaning to life. Suddenly, Stephen courting Jared doesn’t seem so important, not in the grand scheme of things.

_He’s going to be a father._

Grinning, Jensen looks up at his best friend and nods, pocketing his phone. “Where do y’all wanna go, then?”

Stephen names some place that sounds expensive, and Jensen is all for it. Jared stumbles upstairs to change and Jensen watches Stephen raid the fridge for something to drink. “Do you want kids?” He’s trying to be sociable. Jensen absolutely is not digging for information.

Stephen jumps and slams his head into the side of the fridge. He glares at Jensen as he slams the fridge door shut, rubbing at the side of his head. “The hell was that for?” he grumbles, and Jensen rubs his hand over his mouth so he doesn’t burst out laughing. “And sort of? I mean, I’ve always figured I’d be the kind of guy with a pup or two running around. Do you know if Jared wants kids? It’s really up to him, anyway.”

Jensen frowns. “How is it up to him?” Danneel had always wanted a kid, and so had Jensen. There had never really been any disagreement or discomfort with the idea of having a kid. It’s expected of alpha/omega pairs to have children.

Stephen gives him a strange look and sits down at one of the barstools Jared has on one side of the island. “He’s an omega. It’s his right to decide whether or not he wants to carry. Even if he gets pregnant, he doesn’t have to keep the pup. Sure, if I want a kid, I might ask him to keep it, but really, it’s his decision.”

Jensen is honestly confused. As far as he’s aware, having pups is about as instinctual for omegas as breathing. In what world would an omega ask for an abortion? Jensen likes to think of himself as a pretty open guy but he wouldn’t be able to understand an omega not wanting to have pups. “You’re his alpha, though,” he replies, and then winces at his acceptance of Stephen and Jared’s relationship. Before Stephen’s smirk can get too big, he continues, “Even if the omega doesn’t want the pup, you can still make him have it.”

Stephen physically recoils and looks faintly disgusted. “You’re telling me that if Danneel didn’t want to have the pup in her belly, you would make her carry it?”

Jensen’s first reaction is yes, absolutely, but he tries to take a step back emotionally from the situation and finally shrugs. “I guess not? But what kind of omega doesn’t want kids?”

Stephen looks completely exasperated, like talking to Jensen is like explaining something to a brick wall. Stephen should think about taking a goddamn look in the mirror if he thinks Jensen is frustrating. “Weres might be a bit more susceptible to our instincts and biology than humans, but we’re still individuals. Some omegas don’t want children. Some alphas don’t want mates. Some omegas only have sexual relationships with other weres when they’re in heat, or they take suppressants or have surgery to stop their heats altogether. Have you honestly been living in a hole for the past ten years? This stuff has been all over the news and all over the internet.”

Jared bursts into the kitchen, laughing. “Jensen doesn’t watch the news, alpha. He’s practically an ostrich.” He grins happily at the two of them, like a shaggy dog after a run, and Jensen absolutely does not notice that Jared just called Stephen alpha. He just ignores that nonsense and pretends he only just realized he hasn’t yet changed for dinner. Stephen looks down at himself and winces.

“Yeah, I’ll change too. You mind if I wear one of your shirts, Jared?”

Jared shakes his head and winks at Stephen. “Wear a green one!” he calls as Stephen jogs upstairs. The guy bounds up the stairs like it’s a goddamn race and if he gets there before Jensen, he’ll win some staircase race that only he was in. Jensen fucking hates him and his make-believe races that he always wins.

Jensen only has dirty clothes at Jared’s house because the guy refuses to do laundry on any schedule that makes sense to someone other than him, so he has to end up borrowing a clean shirt from Jared as well. Stephen gives him a strange look when he picks out one of Jared’s favorite shirts, a red-and-black plaid shirt. Stephen is wearing a clean pair of jeans and a skin-tight green t-shirt, just like Jared had asked. By the look of him, the place he’d wanted to go probably isn’t as expensive as it had sounded, but Stephen probably didn’t have the same nice upbringing as Jensen had had.

Joining Jared in the kitchen, Jensen rakes his hand back through his hair and rubs at his scruff. Dean has been scruffy lately with all the stuff he and Sam are doing to each other, and it’s a little frustrating to stare at the same face in the mirror every day. He doesn’t mind his face but sometimes he wishes he had a choice on what to do with it.

Stephen literally jumps down the last few stairs and lands on his feet, like he’s some weirdly athletic cat instead of a were.

In fact, that makes Jensen think of something…he waits until they’re all in the car—Stephen had insisted on driving and Jared had stolen shotgun, so Jensen was stretched out in the backseat, pretending to casually look at something on his phone—and then he says, “So, Stephen, we’ve never seen your wolf form. Gonna show that off anytime soon?”

Even Jared looks interested and Jensen realizes Jared hasn’t even seen Stephen’s wolf yet, which feels strange for how long their courtship has progressed. To Jensen’s surprise, Stephen starts blushing and he rubs the back of his neck.

“Maybe one of these days,” Stephen hedges, and gently but firmly refuses to answer any further questions on the topic. Jared looks hurt, which makes sense, since Stephen is intentionally keeping an incredibly important part of himself from him. Stephen has seen both Jared and Jensen’s wolf form, but they’ve never seen his.

Interesting, that’s all.

Jensen wonders if he’s insecure about it, or if he’s got missing fur or if he’s an ugly color. Stephen definitely isn’t uncomfortable in his human form, given that he prances around half-naked most of the time. There are wounds that only show up on the wolf, and the human remains unscathed. It can happen the other way around, as well, but it’s more rare.

The three of them are silent on the way to the restaurant. Jared is giving Stephen strange looks and Jensen, to his surprise, feels almost guilty about it.

It’s a decently nice restaurant and all of them are clearly underdressed—except for Jared, who is wearing pressed jeans and a pearl snap shirt, and to everyone’s surprise, no beanie—but their celebrity status gets them pass the maître-d without a problem. Sometimes it pays to be relatively famous. Jensen also has a recognizable face given that people seem to notice him and then notice Jared. Of course, Stephen has the same sort of classically handsome face—not that Jensen…thinks Stephen is handsome—and he even gets stopped a couple times on the way to their table.

Jared is hanging back behind the two alphas, twisting his hands and worrying his lower lip. Jensen throws him a concerned look but Jared won’t meet his gaze. Nonetheless, Jared lets Stephen herd him into the far corner of the booth and then crowd in next to him. Jensen sits across from them and watches as Stephen waits for Jared to pick up the wine list, and when he doesn’t, he frowns and picks it up himself.

Stephen ends up ordering wine for the three of them, while Jensen stares worriedly at Jared and Jared pretends to be busy on his phone. His head is tilted forward, his chin nearly at his chest, and his hair is covering his face.

Stephen ends up having to order for Jared as well and both alphas have all of their attention focused solely on the clearly uncomfortable omega. Jensen finally reaches across the table and pushes Jared’s phone down so it’s resting on the table.

“Look at me,” Jensen orders, his voice quiet, and out of the corner of his eye, he sees Stephen’s shoulders tense.

Automatically, Jared’s eyes flick up and lock onto Jensen’s. He’s always been good at doing what he’s told. “Tell me what’s wrong,” Jensen says, and Jared’s mouth opens at the same time as he starts shaking his head. His eyes are watery but he’s not crying, which is good, especially since they’re in public. He’s trying to get a hold on his emotions and finally he just pushes his hands into his lap and leans over to push his face into Stephen’s neck.

Stephen twists around so his back is towards the restaurant and any prying eyes can’t see Jared, and something twists in Jensen’s chest when Jared is safe.

“You’re alright, baby,” Stephen whispers, and Jared just shakes his head. Jensen can’t, for the life of him, figure out what’s wrong with his friend. He’d been so happy until they’d gotten to the restaurant. Was it the fans? Was he annoyed they hadn’t had a night to themselves? Jensen would do anything to give Jared a night out where they weren’t attacked by fans, but he can’t do anything about that. He could take them to some no-name backwater shit town where no one knew them, but that’s not the kind of night out Jared likes. “Do you want to go home?”

Jared shakes his head again. There is something frantic in Stephen’s eyes. After a few minutes and a couple deep breaths, Jared seems to get a hold of himself, and he nuzzles Stephen’s neck before straightening up and apologizing into his glass of wine. Stephen tells him he never has to apologize and straightens a little, bringing up one hand to cup the back of Jared’s neck. Jared relaxes into the touch and scoots closer to Stephen. Jensen thinks about their legs probably tangled up underneath the table and nearly gags.

He doesn’t say anything for a while, keeping his gaze locked on Jared. Jensen knows something is wrong, obviously. Even he’s not that obtuse. Trying to figure out the cause of it is a lot harder, however. Jared doesn’t get overwhelmed like that a lot.

Stephen manages to get Jared to at least start talking, but he’s clearly holding something back. Neither of the alphas mind—Stephen probably thinks he’ll get it out of him later—and Jensen knows Jared will end up telling him, or he’ll figure it out somehow. Well, hopefully, anyway.

Jared tells them about omega hormonal changes—the full moon was only a few days ago—and Jensen is pretty sure that neither he nor Stephen is really buying it. Jensen has known Jared for almost 10 years, and any omega hormonal changes hadn’t caused Jared to nearly start crying in the middle of a restaurant.

This was more like when Jared had nearly been suicidal. He hadn’t broken down crying in public but Jensen would say something slightly off-color or offensive and he would get all teary and shut down. Or he would become insecure about something and would fixate on it for days, if not weeks.

Huh.

What would Jared even have to be insecure about?

That probably wasn’t it anyway.

Jensen thanks the waiter when he brings their food and frowns at Jared when he just looks down at his lap. Stephen thanks the waiter for Jared but looks concernedly at his omega while he eats. Thankfully, Jared eats all of his food.

Stephen starts talking when it’s clear Jared and Jensen aren’t going to fill the uncomfortable conversation void. He tells them about how Katie Cassidy has been doing since she played Ruby. Jensen misses her but doesn’t think he can be expected to really remember her. He has a hard time remembering last week, let alone years ago. He would probably forget what his own wife looks like if he didn’t have a picture of her as his phone background. They see Katie sometimes and Jared always swings her up in a hug.

Jensen wonders how Stephen deals with his omega being so touchy with everyone around him. He doesn’t think he could deal with Danneel being like that. She’s an amiable person and gets along well with everyone around her, but thankfully she’s not very touchy-feely with anyone other than Jensen.

Finally, Jared sits up straight and digs a pack of gum out of his pocket. He stuffs his mouth with a piece and lets out this long, soul-shuddering sigh. It hurts Jensen to hear it. Jensen can see him rest a hand on Stephen’s thigh and Stephen drops his fork with a clatter, bringing both of his hands down to gently cradle Jared’s. Stephen is so…gentle. It’s strange to watch and it makes Jensen uncomfortable.

After the three of them all turn down dessert, Jensen pays and then helps Stephen herd Jared to the truck. He goes to put his hand on Jared’s lower back to feel like they’re both grounding each other, but snatches his hand away when it bumps into Stephen’s hand. Jared gives him a strange look and seems to relax once they’re all in the car together. He keeps looking at his phone and Jensen ends up stealing it from him and trying to figure out what is so damn interesting that Jared, of all people, is being rude and staring at his phone instead of talking to his alpha and his best friend.

There’s nothing of interest. Had Jared really just been staring at a blank screen? Is he avoiding them? Jensen wouldn’t really blame him, especially with how he’s been acting, but it’s still uncharacteristic of his friend. Jared doesn’t really avoid people. If he has a problem with someone, he generally confronts them head-on and works it all out. Maybe he’s afraid of Jensen? It doesn’t make sense, especially given how long Jared has known him, but courting omegas are overwhelmed with emotions and hormones that they necessarily aren’t used to. It can be difficult for an omega to deal with the changing social expectations and how their scents and biology are changing. Danneel went through a bit of that when Jensen was courting her.

They get back to Jared’s house and he doesn’t even ask for his phone back, he just strips down in the kitchen and goes into the backyard, shifting into his wolf form and curling up into a ball in the middle of his backyard. Jensen drops both his and Jared’s phones and his wallet on the island in the kitchen and hopes his friend is going to be all right.

Jensen and Stephen both move to stand on the back porch, watching him in silence. Jensen finally goes around the corner of the house and gets naked, shifting into his wolf form as well. He goes and curls up next to Jared, propping his chin on Jared’s back and coincidentally angles himself to watch Stephen pace the back porch.

After a few minutes, Stephen freezes, and turns around to start unbuttoning his shirt. Jensen flinches and closes his eyes, scooting closer to Jared.

For how big of a person Jared is, his wolf is surprisingly small. Omega wolves are usually smaller than alphas and betas, but Jared is almost strangely small. He’s a bright brown, with a few white spots on his chest and his feet, and a little bit of greying over his back. Jensen has only seen pictures of his own wolf form, along with having it described to him, and he’s a kind of boring sandy brown, with no big splotches of color.

Jensen has heard rumors that the smaller the wolf, the more submissive the omega. He’s not entirely sure if it’s true, especially given how generally not submissive Jared is most of the time. Then again, he’s never exactly had Jared in his bed. He’s also heard that the larger the wolf, the more dominant the alpha. His own wolf is on the large size, and Danneel had told him the first time she watched him shift that he was one of the biggest wolves she had ever seen.

Jensen opens his eyes and looks up when he hears a sound. There’s a new smell in the air, the stink of another alpha wolf. It nearly makes Jensen sneeze.

There’s a massive, pure white wolf standing just a couple feet from them. He’s absolutely huge. Jensen pushes to his feet and Stephen is even bigger than he is. From behind them, Jared perks up and he starts whining low in his throat, his tail thumping the ground.

Stephen physically pushes Jensen aside and stands over Jared. The omega rolls over on his back and bares his throat and stomach, his tail lightly wagging against the grass. Jensen scurries back, his wolf forcing him away, knowing he has no part of this. He runs back into the house right as Stephen locks his jaw over Jared’s throat.

He shifts back to human once he’s inside, and he glances out to the backyard to see Stephen and Jared, both now in their human forms, rolling around on the lawn. Jensen runs upstairs to the guest room, which faces the front yard and the driveway. He nearly runs to the bathroom to throw up, but instead sits on the edge of the bed and tries to erase the image of Stephen’s bare ass from his mind.

Strangely enough, Jensen finds himself creeping back downstairs and standing awkwardly in the kitchen, absolutely not glancing through the window over the sink to see into the backyard. It’s pretty obvious what’s going on. Jensen has watched enough porn to recognize the flexion of those muscles and that particular movement.

Jensen is going to die. He’s going to throw up his stomach and his intestines and they’ll find him dead on the kitchen floor. He can feel his heart trembling and his stomach is rebelling.

He is on the verge of death.

The backdoor is open and because Jensen has the worst luck in the entire world, there’s a small breeze wafting the combined stink of the two weres mating into the house. It smells like someone is pissing all over a flower garden, and because Jensen hates himself, he stands in the kitchen and listens to it.

Jared is literally whimpering, begging Stephen for his—no, Jensen isn’t listening to that. He’s not hearing his best friend beg his alpha for anything. He’s not listening to Stephen tell his best friend that he has a little omega dick or that his tight hole is opening up well to take his knot. Jared is whining and moaning and making more sounds than Danneel has ever made.

Jensen doesn’t know how long they fuck for. It feels like hours. He feels glued to the spot in front of the sink, and looks down to see his fingers are white-knuckling the edges of it. He doesn’t remember grabbing onto it. Thank god he’s not hard, and he only vaguely recognizes that he’s still naked.

One of them shouts and Jensen absolutely isn’t watching when Stephen finally knots Jared. He definitely doesn’t watch as Jared spurts all over his stomach—Jensen isn’t looking but Jared actually does have a small dick, even for an omega—and Stephen collapses on top of him. They roll over so they’re on their sides facing each other and Jensen peers closer and he thinks he can see a bulge in Jared’s stomach.

Jared breathes, “You’re the most beautiful wolf I’ve ever seen.” Jensen can barely hear him.

Jensen’s throat goes dry and he can literally feel bile rising in his throat. He dry heaves and goes to run the sink to clean out his mouth, but stops himself, knowing the two out on the grass would be able to hear him. Even though they had practically started fucking while he was standing next to them, Jensen doesn’t want Stephen to know he was watching. He can only imagine his own reaction if someone had watched him knot Danneel; he would probably rip them apart.

Stephen rolls his hips and rubs his cheek over Jared’s neck. “A lot of people aren’t comfortable with me being a white wolf. There are a lot of superstitions about us, so I wasn’t sure you would be comfortable with it. Guess I should’ve known better.” He clears his throat. “You gonna tell me what was wrong at the restaurant? That’s not like you, either.”

Jared sighs and tips his head back, baring his neck, showing off the claiming bite right over his scent gland. No wonder they stink so badly. Jensen is of half a mind to go out there and throw up on the two of them.

Jared fucks his hips back and grunts, settling himself deeper on Stephen’s knot. Stephen’s hands drop to settle on Jared’s hips and pull him closer. There’s no space between them and Jensen wants to take a crowbar and pry them apart.

“Sometimes I just forget how handsome you are compared to me. Everyone sees you and knows you’re a strong, capable alpha, and they see me and it feels like they don’t understand how we’re together. I don’t know how you want me, when I’m just an ugly, huge omega who can’t offer you anything. You’re so handsome, alpha, and I feel so insignificant compared to you.”

Huh. So Jensen had been right? He couldn’t understand how Jared could be insecure about his looks, especially given how attractive he is, but he’s surprised to realize he had hit the nail on the head.

It feels more invasive to listen to Stephen reassure Jared he’s the prettiest, most skilled and incredible omega he’s ever met, than to watch them mate, so Jensen picks up his phone and goes upstairs to steal some of Jared’s clothes. His clothes are still out on the back deck and he’s not risking going out there and having them realize he watched them. He may have nearly killed Stephen for touching his pregnant omega, but Stephen would at the very least permanently maim him for watching them mate. Even for as passive of an alpha he is, he probably wouldn’t be able to stop himself.

Jensen steals a pair of Jared’s sweats and one of his t-shirts, glaring at the ones that stink like Stephen. Absolutely disgusting that Stephen is already keeping clothes at Jared’s house. He wants to piss all over Jared’s closet and show the other alpha that this space had belonged to him first, that he had kept clothes here long before Jared even knew Stephen existed.

He grabs his wallet from the island in the kitchen and goes to sit on the front steps and waits for the cab he called. While being driven back to his apartment—the cab driver gave him a weird look for his bare feet and Jensen had barely stopped himself from flipping the guy off—he calls Danneel.

He tells her, with an inexplicable lump in his throat, that Stephen and Jared have mated. It’s not official until the bonding ceremony, so they’re still technically courting, but she still squeals in delight. He doesn’t tell her he watched it.

Danneel tells him to, at the very least, send Jared and Stephen a congratulations text. She knows him well enough that he won’t give them the proper present, which is generally a bunch of food or a monetary gift, but he could do the minimum and get away with it, especially since he’s Jared’s best friend.

They end up talking well into the night and once they hang up, Jensen crawls into bed and stares at the ceiling for a long time.

He ends up sending the text, and turns his phone off before he can get a reply.


	12. Chapter Twelve

Jensen’s birthday falls on a Saturday, and they end up starting the celebrations on set, because of course they have to film at night on the 28th. He ends up going back to his apartment and sleeping for nine hours, blearily waking up past noon to his phone ringing.

He answers to hear Jared tell him that he’s going to get picked up in an hour and he better be ready, because they’re two grown men who are going to spend the night partying. He hopes its his version of partying, which is getting shit-faced at Jared’s house and playing the guitar, and not Jared’s version of partying, which is going out to a bar and doing shots until they both throw up. Because he’s tired and groggy and his brain is still asleep, he asks if Stephen is going to be there.

Ever since their mating, Stephen hasn’t left Jared’s side other than when they’re on set, or Stephen is working out, which it seems like he does far more than any were should need to. Jensen barely works out and he’s been able to lift Jared. Jared works out and jogs, not only because he’s goddamn crazy, but Jensen has figured he does it because he’s insecure and wants to show everyone around him that he’s not just some defenseless omega.

Jared bursts into laughter and Jensen pulls the phone away from his ear, glaring at it as he sits up. He presses it back to his ear to hear Jared tell him, “No, Stephen’s not joining. He’s gotta work tonight. Something about one of the crew being sick held them back a day or something. So, yeah, Jen, your birthday will be Stephen-free.”

He just grunts and tells Jared he’ll be outside waiting in an hour and hangs up. He quickly showers and shaves, and then stares at himself in the mirror. He doesn’t see the same hateful man who stared back at him when he nearly broke Stephen and Jared up. Instead, he sees the bags under his eyes and the grit on his teeth.

He finishes getting ready and is downstairs in 45 minutes. He fucks around on his phone and wishes he had a cigarette or a cigar. Thankfully there aren’t any paparazzi about—the network probably had the apartment complex tighten down on security—but he’s still happy he decided to wear his sunglasses. He should’ve told Jared to bring him coffee.

Jared pulls up 10 minutes late—Jensen should’ve expected that, honestly—and hands Jensen a Starbucks cup.

“Ready to fuckin’ party, man?” Jared beams at him, all dimples, and he’s practically a ray of sunshine. His mating bite is usually covered up by makeup during the week but it’s a glaring white set of teeth and Jensen hates seeing it.

Jensen grunts and sips at his coffee. “Give me another hour, dude. Where are we goin’ anyway?”

“My house. Stocked the whole place with booze and we’re ordering pizzas. Figure we could get wasted and eat until we throw up and then drink until we throw up. Sound like a good birthday to you?”

It sounds perfect. A day with his best friend and no other distractions. He wants to rub his scent all over Jared and remind Stephen who he belonged to first.

“That better not be your only present, Jay.”

Jared laughs again and something settles, small and warm and quiet, in the pit of Jensen’s stomach. He feels like a tired wolf after a kill.

“Naw, man, I got you covered.”

They pull into Jared’s house and Jensen goes inside, Jared right on his heels. He stops in the doorway between the mudroom and the kitchen and just stares.

The entire island is covered in various bottles of hard liquor. There’s everything there from vodka to tequila to whiskey and rum to those weird sugary liquors Jared likes to sip on sometimes. The fridge is probably filled with beer, knowing Jared.

“Are you trying to kill me? There’s enough booze to kill me four times over.”

“We got all weekend, Jensen! I’m going to order the pizza and you wanna start a movie? We can watch a rom-com and do shots whenever it’s overwhelmingly heterosexual.”

Jensen tosses his coffee in the trash and goes straight for the tequila. He takes a long sip and winces and tells Jared, “I can’t believe you just said that. You’re not even gay.”

Jared grins and digs through his drawer full of take-out and delivery menus. “Bisexual and proud, brother.”

“Get a pride tattoo and shut up.” Jensen drops his sunglasses onto the kitchen counter and goes into the living room while Jared orders the pizzas with a huge grin on his face. He ends up picking out some movie with two white people kissing on the front jacket.

Jared hangs up the phone and drops onto the couch next to him, dropping a bottle of Wild Turkey and two shot glasses on the coffee table. They end up both doing a shot at the menu screen, where a man and a woman are gazing longingly into each other’s eyes.

“Is this a human movie?” Jensen asks, and Jared hops up to grab the DVD box. He glances over the summary on the back and shrugs, his shoulders rippling under his worn grey t-shirt.

“No mention of weres or anything like that, so I’m guessing it is.”

Jensen grimaces and does another shot. Jared curls up next to him and rubs his head on Jensen’s shoulder. He swings an arm over Jared and pulls him in closer.

By the time the pizza arrives, they’re both absolutely wasted out of their minds. Jensen is nearly nauseous and Jared is so giggly that he can’t find his wallet to give the delivery guy a tip. Jensen ends up pulling his own wallet out and giving the guy the first bill he finds. He’s pretty sure it’s a $20 bill but he’s not entirely certain.

They pause the movie and stuff themselves, finishing a whole pizza and sharing a slice of the next one. Jared burps in Jensen’s face and laughs at him. He’s flushed and sweaty and Jensen blearily thinks it’s a good look on him. He’s glad they’re not out at a bar because Jared would probably be giving someone a lap dance right about now.

He wonders what Stephen would think of that, and considers asking Jared if he would want to go out to a bar. He ends up deciding against it when his stomach turns over and he runs upstairs to use the bathroom.

He doesn’t really throw up anything other than a lot of spit—which seems impossible with how much he ate and drank, but he’s too drunk to question it—and he passes Jared’s bedroom on the way back downstairs. Something catches his eye and he grabs on the doorframe to help himself look at it.

There’s a poster of Stephen, in his ridiculous green hood, on the wall next to the closet door. He can’t read what it says underneath Stephen’s picture, and it feels like it’s mocking him, that Stephen is claiming this house that Jensen has spent so much time in as his own. The room tries to spin around him and he yells Jared’s name.

Jared pounds up the stairs and trips over the top one. Instead of getting up, he lies on the floor and blinks a lot at the ceiling. “What’s wrong?” he finally slurs, and winks at Jensen. Well, at least in Jensen’s general direction.

“What’s that doing there?” Jensen asks, and he tries to motion at the poster but ends up nearly falling over. He grabs onto the doorframe with both hands and then frowns, a thought creeping up in his head, barely understandable through the fog. He’s warm and his chest feels hot. He wonders where he lost his sunglasses. “Y’know…this is supposed to be a birthday party. Where’s the damn…pin the…pin the donkey? The donkey’s tail? Where’s that?”

Jared bursts out laughing and rolls over onto his stomach, feet hanging over the edge of the stairs. “Pin the tail on the donkey? You’re seven?”

Jensen looks at the poster of Stephen and gets an idea. He can’t figure out how to get around Jared at the top of the stairs, so he drops down on his butt and scoots around his friend, and then continues to butt-scoot down the stairs. He gets distracted by the pizza and eats another slice before he remembers the knives in the kitchen.

Jared keeps all his steak knives in a knife holder on the counter. Jensen can’t remember the name of the container but he grabs it and drops his pizza to the floor. It takes a lot of maneuvering to not step on it but he eventually makes it back to the stairs and nearly has to crawl up them. He hasn’t been this drunk in a long time and wonders if he should drink some water. It’s more of a vague thought about ice but the intent is there.

Jared is still lying on the floor. Jensen actually does literally crawl around him, one hand pushing the knife holder over the carpet. He eventually gets to Jared’s bedroom and throws the knives onto the bed. It stinks of Stephen and Jared and dried slick and semen and he practically gags.

He uses the bed to pull himself to his feet and then glares at the poster of Stephen. He slaps the bed a few times before he looks down and carefully places his hand on one of the knives. Jared calls out to him and asks what he’s doing, but Jensen isn’t sure he has words for it. He doesn’t want to say ‘I’m trying to throw knives at a poster of your boyfriend’ out loud, because he’s drunk and saying it out loud will make it sound as ridiculous as it probably is.

Jensen picks up the first knife and hefts it in his hand. He looks up and stares into Stephen’s hooded eyes. The poster stares at him like he’s committed a crime. Jensen holds the knife up to his eye like a gun scope and aims it. He brings it down to his shoulder and glares at Stephen’s dumb face.

The knife lands on the bed about two feet in front of Jensen. He sways drunkenly and nearly falls over. It takes a long minute for him to regain his equilibrium and he manages to pick up another knife and slowly look behind himself to make sure Stephen didn’t come home and is about to attack him. Jared is out in the hallway, gesturing wildly at the wall and telling it a story about his dogs.

Jensen turns back to glare at the poster and he throws the knife. He manages to throw it into Jared’s walk-in closet, but at least he’s getting closer. He throws at least two more before he actually hits the poster. He doesn’t get anywhere near Stephen’s dumb ugly mug but he figures it’s the thought that counts.

He ends up throwing all of the knives except for one. It’s the biggest knife and Jensen thinks it’s a…bread knife. He nods to himself and thinks it could definitely cut some bread. It could also cut…a poster. It could cut a Stephen.

Jensen stumbles around the bed and catches himself on the doorframe to Jared’s closet. He meets poster Stephen’s hooded gaze and brings the knife up to the top of the poster. As carefully as he can, he drags the tip of the knife down and slices the poster in half. It hangs limply, both of Stephen’s eyes staring in different directions. Jensen drops the knife and staggers out to the hall, dropping to his knees next to Jared and then curling up next to him. Jared immediately twists up next to him and rubs his cheek on Jensen’s shoulder.

“You wanna go finish the movie? I bet I can do more shots than you,” Jared mumbles, and he tries to sit up but ends up collapsing back onto the floor. For some reason, he thinks that’s hilarious, and cracks up, tears leaking out of his eyes as his shoulders tremble. Jensen doesn’t know what’s funny but laughs along with him.

Jared finally ends up dragging himself over to the stairs and literally sliding down them. He slams his face into the bottom stair and slumps over himself, moaning and holding his nose. Jensen slides down on his butt and falls on top of Jared, rubbing his cheek into the space between Jared’s shoulder blades. Jared twists around and steals one of Jensen’s hands, holding it up to his nose.

“Check to see if it’s broken,” Jared pleads, and Jensen sits up, trying to focus through the haze. He presses on Jared’s nose and Jared just winces, and Jensen doesn’t know a lot about broken noses but he knows enough to figure that Jared would probably be tearing up, at least.

“Don’t think it’s broken,” Jensen replies, and then drags his friend to the living room. One of them pours shots and starts the movie. Jensen doesn’t remember the rest of the night.

Stephen returns the next morning to find his omega curled up on the couch with Jensen. The entire house is a mess. There are half-empty alcohol bottles everywhere and one of them managed to break a beer can in half. The TV has shot glasses balanced on top of it. It looks like they only watched one movie, which he’s surprised by. He ends up waking up Jensen first and gets a horrified stare.

Jensen wakes up to feeling like the entire world is being balanced on the top of his head. Everything hurts. His eyes feel like someone squeezed them and his stomach is trying to convince him that he’ll die if he ever eats again.

The first thing he sees is Stephen, looking tired but amused. He suddenly remembers drunkenly stabbing the poster of him up in Jared’s room and moans. He holds a hand to his head and tries to sit up. To his surprise, Jared is sprawled out on top of him, his head tucked under Jensen’s chin and his arms like vice grips around Jensen’s torso.

“Now you gotta see what I put up with every night,” Stephen drawls, but throws Jensen a wink when Jensen just stares at him. Stephen is leaning against the end of the couch and he gives Jensen an amused smile before he goes back into the kitchen. “I’ll get you both some water and aspirin. You’re probably not hungry but you should still eat something. I know Jared likes eggs and toast when he’s hung-over. That sound good enough?”

Jared stirs at the sound of Stephen’s voice and ends up elbowing Jensen in the gut. He moans, “Alpha?” and blearily blinks up at Jensen. Horror washes over his face and he sits up, clutching at his head before he stares at Jensen. “Where’s—where’s Stephen?”

“In the kitchen, baby,” Stephen calls, and Jared gives Jensen a strange look.

“You’re—you’re not mad?” Jared asks, and Jensen just frowns at him. What would Stephen have to be mad at Jared about? There’s no way he saw the poster, and nobody would think that Jared had been the one to do that.

“Of course not,” Stephen replies, not even looking up from cooking eggs. The smell of them, especially covered with the fear-stink emanating from Jared and the hideous way Stephen smells, makes Jensen’s stomach turns, and he slaps a hand against his mouth. He ends up pushing Jared all the way off his legs and staggering upstairs.

He barely manages to get to the toilet in time. He throws up something that’s hot and tastes like bile, and doesn’t look at it as he flushes the toilet. He washes his mouth out and then uses mouthwash, rubbing his hand over his cheek as he looks at himself in the mirror. He manages to gather up the knives and hides them under Jared’s bed, and then rips the poster into pieces and flushes it down the toilet. There are marks all over the wall around where the poster had been, but Jensen figures it’s better than the actual poster being destroyed and still up on the wall.

He goes back downstairs to see Jared contently eating eggs and toast, his lips puffy and there’s a very strong stink of alpha Stephen in the air. Jensen grimaces and opens the back patio door, muttering something about fresh air. Stephen smirks at him and hands Jensen his plate and a mug of coffee. Of course, the asshole salted and sugared everything perfectly, so there’s not even anything to complain about. He even buttered the toast how Jensen likes it.

If he didn’t think he would throw up again without food to settle his stomach, Jensen would throw the food in the sink and stomp out of the house. He ends up grudgingly eating it and glaring at the way Jared preens under Stephen’s attention. He doesn’t know what was up with Jared being scared of him earlier, but he’s too hung over to care.

They end up bringing out a couple presents for him. Stephen gives him a canister of Febreze. Jensen is literally going to kill him. He’s going to kill him with Febreze.

Jared gives him a small scale model of the Impala, with doors that open and a little wheel that turns. The trunk even opens and there’s a little D.W. + S.W. carved onto the inside. He also gives Jensen a pair of leather shoes that he’s been eyeing for awhile, and a green sweater that Jensen pulls on over his gross, sweat-stained t-shirt. Jared beams at him and tackles him in a hug. They both end up pulling apart and barely stopping themselves from gagging. Apparently they both forgot they were hung over.

Stephen snorts at them and tells Jared to eat the rest of his food. Jared practically purrs under the attention and Jensen finishes his coffee and tells them he has to go. He uses Jared’s cell to call a taxi and searches the destroyed living room until he finds his wallet and cell phone, and then winces at six missed calls from Danneel.

She answers the phone after one ring and Jensen sits on the front step and smiles as she lectures him on answering his phone when she calls. She shouldn’t have to worry about her alpha any more than she does. She shouldn’t have to worry that he’s finally started a fight he couldn’t finish with Stephen. She just shouldn’t have to worry about him at all. Jensen apologizes and taps his fingers on the roof of the Impala Jared gave him.

He’s going to put it on his nightstand when he gets back to his apartment.

Danneel finally loses steam by the time the cab arrives. He spends the ride telling her about what he can remember from his birthday—he doesn’t mention destroying the poster of Stephen but she’ll probably hear about it from Jared somehow anyway—and she sounds happy for him.

He gets back to his apartment and hears something change in Danneel’s voice. They end up having phone sex and Jensen spends most of the call with his eyes squeezed shut and one hand clutching at his dick, missing her so much it hurts. After she ends the call, he stares at his limp dick and his semen-stained hand and wonders how much longer he can do this. He loves his job but he doesn’t know how much longer he can stay separated from his omega. He doesn’t feel comfortable asking her to move up to Canada for him.

While washing his hands in the kitchen sink, Jensen is struck with the thought of where Jared is going to live after _Supernatural_ ends. Stephen is from Ontario, Jensen is pretty sure, so Jared will probably move there and sell his house in Texas.

Jensen wonders if he can convince Jared to stay in Texas with him. He makes a note in his phone to find a house in Jared’s neighborhood. He’ll probably have to sell a couple other houses but he doesn’t spend much time there anyway. Usually he’s at Danneel’s house or they’re at Jared’s house.

Stephen doesn’t seem to be the kind of alpha to force Jared to sell his house or move, but you never know with alphas.

Jensen crashes on the couch and turns on the TV, and spends the rest of his birthday weekend on his phone, replying to texts and emails about his birthday, and getting caught up on the news.

As he goes to bed that night, he feels like it was a good way to turn 36. He feels too close to 40 for comfort, but there’s not much to be done about that. He sprays the Febreze Stephen gave him on a pillow and cuddles with it, closing his eyes and pretends it’s Danneel.


	13. Chapter Thirteen

The next few weeks are full for everyone, Stephen included. Jared and Jensen go to Chicago to film a spin-off and when he goes to pick Jared up at his house, he opens the front door to see Stephen giving Jared a quiet, apparently-strongly worded lecture. He can’t hear what Stephen was saying, and when he asks Jared about it, his friend just sighs and shakes his head. He spends most of their time in Chicago worried about Jared and ends up actually calling Stephen and interrogating him about it.

Stephen just laughs at him. “He’s in heat. Can’t you smell it? I told him to make sure he takes his suppressants. He hates taking them so I had to use my alpha-voice. He gets to be a little bratty when he’s in heat.”

“He didn’t tell me,” Jensen grumbles, and can practically hear Stephen roll his eyes.

“Why would he tell you? He’s on suppressants and you’re not his alpha. He’s only legally obliged to tell his employer if it’s in his contract that he’s required to disclose his heats.”

Jensen mumbles something rude and shakes his head. He frowns and looks over to see Jared wiping at his sweaty forehead with the back of his hand and staring down at his phone like it’s his lifeline. He asks the question before he can really filter himself.

“How do you let him out of your sight? I can barely leave Danneel alone in a room when she’s in heat.”

Nothing comes through in Stephen’s tone as he replies, “I don’t tell him where to go or what to do. My job is to protect him and keep him safe. He still has a job, and he still has responsibilities. Jared would hate an alpha who didn’t let him go to work or hang out with his friends. He and Danneel are two different types of omegas who need different types of alphas. She probably doesn’t want to be separate from you during her heat, either. Jared doesn’t want to be there but he’s not depressed about it like your omega would probably be. Right?”

Jensen looks over to see Jared rubbing at his eyes and dropping down into a chair. He looks like he hasn’t slept in a month and he’s definitely emanating sad stink. He’s still looking at his phone like it holds the lost codes to save the world. Jensen gets up and walks over to see what he’s looking at.

It’s a picture of Stephen, and he’s wearing some shirt that Jensen has seen Jared wear before, and he has a huge smile on his face. Jensen clears his throat and it’s the hardest thing he’s ever had to do but he tells Stephen, “Yeah, I think he needs you.”

They don’t have a lot to film in Chicago and they’re only on set for two days. Stephen and Jared are talking on the phone whenever Jared isn’t on camera, and Jensen eventually bites the bullet and goes out and buys alpha lube and a knotting dildo for his friend. It seems that whenever Jared leaves Stephen, he goes into heat. Jensen wonders if that’s a symptom of some omega disease, since he’s never heard of it before.

Stephen meets them at the airport gate and practically knots Jared then and there. Jensen gags as he manages to steer them to a lockable family bathroom. He doesn’t loiter outside the bathroom and gets both his and Jared’s bags and goes back to Jared’s house. He drops Jared’s bags off and then takes the cab back to his apartment. He doesn’t even make it to his bedroom, and falls asleep on his couch.

He wakes up to three weeks of constant work. They’re almost done with filming and the two of them barely get a day off. Jared goes home for a weekend but Jensen has to work. He’s barely able to call Danneel on the drive back to his apartment everyday before he’s asleep. But then, before he knows it, they’re filming the last scene and headed to the wrap party.

Stephen joins them, with his wrap party just being a few days later, and he spends most of the night with his arm around Jared’s waist as they both celebrate. It makes Jensen miss Danneel so much his stomach aches. He’s leaving the next morning and he’ll be in Texas by that night, but it feels like it’s too long. Maybe he can convince her to try out for a part that has a set in Vancouver.

Jared gives Jensen a hug goodbye and they go their separate ways for the first time in months. Usually they spend the month after filming ends and cons start apart, because no matter how much they love each other, they still need a break. By the end of the month, however, Jensen knows they’ll both be chomping at the bit to see each other again.

No one has really ever understood Jensen like Jared has. He knows Danneel is supposed to complete him, and she does, and she’s never expected him to be anyone other than who he is, but he’s never really 100% clicked with her like he has with Jared. It’s close, though. Probably 98% click.

Jensen wonders if it’s the same for Jared, if he feels like what he has with Stephen isn’t quite as deep as what he has with Jensen. It’s probably different for omegas, though.

He spends the entire flight twitching in his seat, doing his best not to scent up the airplane. A couple of the stewardesses give him weird looks and he bets there’s a bunch of tweets that describe the way he smells when he’s turned on.

Danneel doesn’t pick him up at the airport but she greets him in the kitchen, barely clad in a pair of heels and matching white lingerie set. She’s even wearing stockings clipped to a garter belt. Jensen nearly knots his jeans. He grabs her hips and just presses his mouth to her neck, breathing her in. She has a little swell to her belly and Jensen wants to spend the rest of his life worshipping her.

“I don’t ever want to go that long without you,” he tells her, and she threads her fingers with his, leaning back against him.

He ends up knotting her over the kitchen table, rolling her tits in his fingers and reestablishing his claiming bite on her neck. She comes every time he bites her and ends up leaving red scratch marks all up and down his back, and she ends up pulling the thong she had been wearing off and stuffing it in his mouth when he won’t stop biting her. It tastes like the core of her, and Jensen moans around it and just fucks her harder. It’s the taste Jensen imagines when he’s in his lonely apartment in Vancouver, his cock in his hand and his eyes squeezed shut.

They spend most of the first week Jensen is back in town reestablishing their bond and having sex all over the house. He falls asleep inside of Danneel and wakes up to her riding him, her pert tits bouncing above him and her curved stomach reminding Jensen of the life he’s already locked inside of her. He manages to knot her mouth once and spends the entire half an hour stroking her hair and wiping away the tears she couldn’t control. She rides his face and he wants to crawl all the way inside of her until he can physically check on the little life growing inside of her.

Jensen steps outside for the first time after Danneel finally tells him they both need to take a shower, but him especially. He gets out of the shower and towels off, wrapping himself in a robe as he finds his phone and turns it on, going through the notifications and the hundreds of emails he missed.

Jared sent him a few pictures of him and Stephen smiling on some boat, and then at some concert, and then a picture from when Jensen had done modeling as a kid and had dressed up as a boy scout or something. He had almost forgotten about it, and hand it to Jared to find that shit and then fucking post it on Twitter.

Danneel shows him the post and spends ten minutes laughing at him. She googles a bunch of ‘young Jensen Ackles’ pictures and sends them to Jared before Jensen can steal her phone and hide it. She ends up telling him she’ll delete the pictures if he goes out to dinner with him. Jensen knows she’s full of shit, but he’s so goddamn in love with her that he pretends to believe her and he presses a kiss to the soft spot behind her ear before going inside and getting dressed.

He sets another reminder to himself to find a realtor and to renovate and sell the house in Malibu, and probably the ones in Los Angeles as well. He wears the shoes and sweater Jared gave him for his birthday, and a pair of jeans Danneel say make his ass look good.

They get practically mobbed by paparazzi once they get to the restaurant, and Jensen cups his wife’s belly and shows her off. They get about 1000 questions asking if she’s pregnant, but they both decide not to answer. Jensen can definitely smell the pregnancy on her but most paparazzi are human, especially given the amount of trespassing and hiding they have to do for their jobs. Weres can’t deal with trespassing on another were’s land or property. It goes against instincts that Jensen can’t even describe.

They manage to get inside and then Jensen’s phone buzzes. He follows Danneel to the table as he opens the picture from Jared. It’s literally another picture of him from that whole Boy Scout photo shoot. He glares at Danneel as they both take their seats.

“You sent those pictures to Jared!” Jensen hisses, glancing over the wine menu and frowning. He’ll just ask for the waiter’s recommendation.

Danneel just shrugs and plucks the wine list out of Jensen’s hands. “Of course I did. And no, you’re not drinking if I can’t drink. I’m growing a new life inside of me; the least you can do is sacrifice drinking the few weeks you’re actually with me a year.”

Jensen frowns but does as she says. “Why did you send them to him?” he grumbles, nodding up at the waiter when he drops water and breadsticks off at their table. “He’s going to show them to Stephen.”

Danneel sniffs and if she was in her wolf form, she would have batted Jensen across the nose. “Stephen already knows what you look like, alpha,” she tells him, and her voice is syrupy sweet, like Jensen is four years old and doesn’t know he’s in trouble. “He probably has embarrassing pictures of his first years as an actor, too.”

Slouching in his seat, Jensen shakes his head and dips his breadstick in the oil and vinegar mix. “No, he was just a stationary cyclist instructor. Jared has already showed me.”

He’s not pouting over this because he’s a grown alpha and he doesn’t need to pout. His omega never feels any sympathy towards him anyway so there wouldn’t be any point in pouting even the slightest.

They end up having an enjoyable dinner and Jensen finds a picture online of younger Stephen in a vest and a cowboy hat. He sends it to Jared and Jared sends him a few smiling emoticons back. Danneel doesn’t let him look up pictures of younger Jared because she knows he’ll probably end up saving them all to his phone and running out of space.

Jared and Stephen come to visit the week after that, and the four of them spend an afternoon sprawled out in the backyard in their wolf forms. It’s strange at first to have Stephen stinking up the house, but he smells enough like Jared that it doesn’t make Jensen or Danneel too uncomfortable. Danneel is in awe of Stephen’s huge white wolf form and Jensen gets all overly possessive, standing in between his omega and the foreign alpha, baring his teeth. Jared ends up tackling him and wrestling with him until Jensen is distracted enough that Stephen and Danneel can greet each other properly. They rub noses and Danneel bares her neck enough to signify she’s an omega.

Jensen finally throws Jared off of him and goes to curl up with his omega, his chin resting on her back, watching as Jared and Stephen pick a similar position and mirror them. Jared’s tail is wagging, just a bit, tapping against the ground as he tries to stay still. Finally, Stephen rolls his eyes and shifts over so he’s lying on his side and Jared splays on top of him, panting loudly as he gets comfortable.

Grumbling, Jensen glares at Stephen and after a long while, shifts back into his human form and sits up, crossing his legs so Danneel can curl up in his lap. Jared ends up laying almost completely on top of Stephen, causing Jensen to shift uncomfortably and wake Danneel up. He’s just not a guy who’s comfortable with PDA, alright? His invited guests shouldn’t be…snuggling…in his backyard and making him uncomfortable.

Danneel sits up and yawns in Jensen’s face, twisting around to look at Jared and Stephen. Stephen is asleep, one of his legs twitching, and Jared is on top of him, upside-down, paws in the air as he watches the mated pair, a big doggie grin on his face. Something in Jensen’s chest melts and he wraps his arms around his wife and pets her fur.

She knows what he’s thinking and wiggles out of his arms, prancing off to go do her business behind the bushes. Jensen glares at Stephen’s sleeping form—seriously, how is he sleeping with Jared all on top of him like that, _and_ he’s on another alpha’s property—and is about to get up and go inside when he looks down and remembers he’s naked.

There isn’t a lot of stigma against nudity between weres. Unmated weres usually hide their genitals from other weres, and mated weres don’t intentionally seek out the signifiers of unmated weres. Jensen has seen Jared naked quite a few times over the years, but Jared has always hid his genitals, and Jensen has never looked, not even before he started courting Danneel. He’s never needed to show off his knot to Jared and he’s never wanted to. Jensen definitely thought about it, especially before he met Danneel.

He slides back into his wolf form as Danneel comes trotting back, and as he stretches, Stephen wakes up and twists around, knocking Jared off of him. Jared jumps up and pushes his nose into Stephen’s neck, tail wagging. Jensen can’t stop himself from growling at the two of them, and out of nowhere, Danneel reaches up and bats him across the nose.

Jared hears the sound and jumps around, laughing so hard he turns back into a person, shoulders rocking as he wipes away tears. “Did she just _hit you_!?”

Danneel gives Jensen a dark look and nudges him towards the house. He rubs his nose on the ground before he gets up and follows her back into the house. Jensen glances over his shoulder to see Stephen transform and wrap his arms around Jared’s shoulders, ducking his head to run his nose up Jared’s neck.

She pushes him into the living room, smoothly sliding into her human form, her face dark and her brow drawn. Danneel pulls her robe down from where she keeps it on a hook next to the back door, and wraps it around herself, crossing her arms and glaring down at Jensen. Jensen jumps onto the couch and grabs the blanket draped across the back of it in his teeth, and drags it over himself before shifting back and pretending his wife isn’t furious with him.

“What is wrong with you? I’m serious, Jensen. Explain to me why you seem to be doing everything to push your friend away.” Danneel stalks around the couch and glares at him, pushing at Jensen’s shoulder to get him to look up at her. “Tell me what is so fucking twisted with you that you’re more focused on your friend’s relationship than your own omega.”

He’s speechless. He tries to open his mouth a few times to tell her she’s wrong, that that’s not it at all, that he’s just been trying to protect Jared, that Stephen has been pretending this entire time to be a decent guy, but he closes his mouth before he can let the words out. Seeing it from Danneel’s perspective, he’s been nothing but an asshole to her.

“I’m sorry,” he says instead, and he meets her gaze, trying to convey his sincerity. Sometimes he forgets how pretty she is, and he wonders how he was so lucky. Jensen spent a lot of his life thinking he would spend the rest of it alone. If angels came down to earth, Jensen is sure they wouldn’t be as pretty as Danneel.

Her face softens and she sits on the couch next to him, tightening the tie of the robe around her waist. “Alpha, I understand what you’re going through. I’ve been understanding and patient. So have Jared and Stephen, for that matter. But you need to tell me what’s going on, and why you’re still doing this. It’s been _months_ since they started courting, and you need to figure out why Jared being in a relationship bothers you so much.”

“They’re always touching,” he blurts out, and winces. Danneel just continues looking at him, her face open and kind. “Amell is an asshole. Everyone thinks he’s this big sweetheart, like he’s always kind and he gives to charity and acts so grateful for his opportunities in life, but I know there’s something else there. He stinks like there’s something wrong with him. I can’t smell that on him and just be fine with him courting my best friend.”

Danneel takes his hand and intertwines their fingers, rubbing her thumb over his. “There’s nothing wrong with not liking Stephen. But you need to tell me what problem you have with _Jared_ , because I don’t think Stephen is the problem. I think you’ve been protective over Jared ever since you’ve met him, and I don’t blame you. You’ve always been like that, alpha. I admire it, actually. Even if you can’t tell me, I need you to think about it. You need to figure out why you have such a problem with your friend being with another alpha.”

“I’m mated to you,” Jensen tells her, and he squeezes her hand. “I don’t want him. If I wanted him, I would be mated to him.” He feels desperate to make sure she knows that. “You’re it for me. I don’t have anything left in me without you.”

Danneel pulls her hand away and Jensen feels cold. “Do you think I’m trying to leave you?”

His insides are icicles. “No?”

“Alpha, nothing could pull me away from you. I could never love someone how I love you. I am carrying your child, and I bear your claim. You know all that. I know you love me. What I don’t know is why you’re so involved in another omega’s relationship.”

“I have to know he’s going to be okay.” His palms are sweaty, which feels strange with the snow surrounding his heart. It’s melting away but Jensen ends up pulling the blanket up to his shoulders. “Jared is one of the most important people in my life. If he mates with Stephen, he’s going to leave me behind.”

Jensen feels like he just put down a heavy backpack. To his surprise, he doesn’t feel like he’s going to throw up, and he feels present in the world. Danneel takes his hand again and pets her fingers down his palm. “That’s all I wanted to hear, alpha. It’s not rational, and I know you can’t stop yourself. I just needed to know why.” She leans up and presses a heavy kiss to his mouth. He feels slack against her, but presses back after a moment. Jensen tries to deepen the kiss but she pulls back and smiles at him.

“I’m going to ask them what they want for dinner.” Danneel stands up and smooths the front of her robe down. She has a small lump on her stomach and Jensen wants to run his face over it. His baby is in there. He pushes the blanket down over his groin and takes a few deep breaths to calm himself down.

Jared and Stephen burst into the house with a wave of noise. Jared is telling some story about Misha and a pie and Stephen’s laughter is bright and happy. Jensen wraps the blanket around his waist and gets off the couch, going down the hall to the kitchen. Jared is in a pair of shorts and his claiming bite is stark white on his neck, and he’s leaning against the kitchen counter, practically radiating happiness. Stephen is looking in the fridge, wearing a tank top and boxers, and Danneel is standing next to him, careful to keep a few inches of space between them.

Jensen goes into the back hall and grabs a shirt and shorts from the box of clothes he keeps back there, and quickly pulls them on. He leaves the blanket in the back hall and turns around to see Jared leaning against the wall, grinning at him.

“Hey, buddy,” he rasps, and clears his throat.

Jared rubs the back of his neck and looks up at Jensen through his lashes. Jensen doesn’t know how the hell he manages that, since he’s taller than Jensen, but Jared has always been able to make himself look small. “I might’ve overheard you telling Danni that you’re just tryin’ to look out for me,” Jared admits, shifting on his feet. “I wanted to say thanks. Don’t feel like you’re going about it the right way, honestly, but thanks, brother.”

His cheeks end up aching because he smiles so big. Jensen claps Jared on the shoulder and then palms the back of his neck, pulling his friend in to press their foreheads together. Jared takes a deep breath and squeezes his eyes shut for a long moment before pulling back and giving Jensen a soft look.

They walk into the kitchen and Stephen gives Jensen a strange look before asking them if ordering Chinese food is all right for dinner.

Jared moans loudly and throws his arms over Stephen’s shoulders, rubbing his cheek along Stephen’s. “I would marry you for some pad Thai right now,” he groans, and Stephen freezes.

Danneel comes up and grabs Jensen’s hand as Stephen puts his hands on Jared’s shoulders and pushes him back a step.

“You want to get married?”

Jensen feels like the world just shifted on its axis and he was the only one to feel it change. His heart is pounding so hard that he thinks it’s visible through his shirt. Danneel throws him a strange look and bile rises in his throat. He’s going to throw up all over her and it’s going to be Jared and Stephen’s fault. He’s practically on the verge of death.

Jared tries to move forward to rub his face over Stephen’s neck but the alpha keeps him at the end of his arms, a stern looks on his face. Jared glances over his shoulder at Jensen and Danneel and clears his throat. “Why wouldn’t I want to marry you? You’ve already mated me and we were planning on an official claiming ceremony anyway…” He trails off and shuffles his feet, bringing up his hands to clasp them around Stephen’s wrists.

“Marriage is a big step,” Stephen says, and Jensen feels dizzy. He leans into Danneel and she pinches his side.

“It’s no bigger than claiming, really,” Jared replies, and his voice is low and soft. “It just makes us official to humans.”

Stephen nods. “There’s a lot more paperwork in getting married than there is with a claiming ceremony. It’s even harder for weres.” He sounds like he’s giving a lecture to a bunch of misbehaving kids. Jensen wants to kill him. Jared’s face turns pleading and something breaks in Stephen’s gaze. “Of course I want to marry you, Jared. You give me a couple months to get everything ready and I’ll marry you, I promise.” He drops his arms and wraps them around Jared’s waist as Jared slams into him for a hug.

“Alpha,” Jared breathes, “This is the best day of my entire life.”

Stephen lets out a loud breath that sounds vaguely amused and he meets Jensen’s gaze over Jared’s shoulder. “Mine too, babe. Best birthday present you could’ve given me. Now nobody will be able to take you away from me.”

At least Jensen didn’t remember the guy’s birthday.


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Because Jared likes scaring the absolute shit out of everyone who cares about him, he ends up in the hospital at JIBCon in Italy, having dislocated his shoulder while wrestling with Osric. Jensen has seen Jared get hurt before, like when he broke his wrist in season…whatever that was, but he’d never seen Jared go that still.

And, of fucking course, Stephen heard about it on Twitter before Jensen could call him. He has Jared’s phone because Jared is in the hospital and he’s out in the waiting room—and hadn’t that been a bitch, having to hang out and get up the courage to call Jared’s alpha while his best friend was getting MRIs and x-rays and whatever the hell else—and there’s about 200 missed calls from Stephen, give or take a few.

He even has Jared’s ring in his pocket. Yeah, Stephen gave Jared a ring. They’re not even married or officially claimed, but Stephen still gave him a fucking ring. The shit Jensen has to put up with is unbelievable.

Stephen had even asked Jensen for advice, but he’d practically thrown his phone at Danneel when Stephen had asked him. She’d told him that Jared would probably want something simple and of course, Stephen had found the perfect ring. Jensen knew Stephen had already gotten one for himself, but he was waiting for the ceremonies to start wearing it.

Finally, Jensen picks up Jared’s phone when Stephen calls _again_.

“He’s going to be fine,” Jensen says before Stephen can say anything, and then winces when Stephen demands to talk to Jared. “He’s getting an x-ray or something. They wouldn’t let me back there since I’m not his mate.”

Stephen hisses out an angry breath and Jensen tips his head back on the chair to stare up at the ceiling. “What the fuck happened? All I hear is that Jared had to cancel something because he fell. Who hurt him? I’m gonna buy a plane ticket. All I hear about my boy is that he went for a run and everything was fine and I goddamn trusted you to keep him safe, Jensen. You wanna tell me why I should ever do that again?”

Stephen doesn’t get angry a lot, and Jensen knows that. Jared has mooned over Stephen’s calm temperament enough times that Jensen has gotten the gist of the kind of guy Stephen is. He might hate him but Stephen isn’t the worst man in the world. “He and Osric were wrestling and Jared slipped on a piece of paper. It wasn’t anyone’s fault. I couldn’t’ve done anything, and neither could you. All I know is that he dislocated his shoulder, man.”

“You better give that Osric guy or whoever he is a big fuckin’ talking-to from me, you hear? The second you see Jared, you tell him to call me.” Stephen hangs up and Jensen drops Jared’s phone to his lap, leaning forward to rub his fingers over his forehead. He’ll just hang out here until he hears more news

Fuck, the jet lag is killing him.

//

Jared is well enough the next day to feel like he can finish up with the convention, but he has his phone out and is texting Stephen every single chance he gets. He tells the crowd that his alpha told him he was dumb, but that he’s known that from the start, and the entire goddamn room goes wild. There’s about a thousand questions from the audience about who his alpha is and Jensen knows there’s gonna be one hell of a lot of speculation until Stephen and Jared make it official.

He does absolutely pass on Stephen’s message to Osric and the poor kid looks like a gentle breeze could knock him over. Jensen claps him on the shoulder and tells him it wasn’t his fault, but maybe send Stephen an email or something apologizing for hurting his omega. God knows he’s apologized to Jared enough times.

Jensen never wants to see Italy again, but it sure is a beautiful place.

They have a busy summer and Jared spends all of his downtime resting and doing a bunch of rehab for his shoulder. It’s a lot harder on Jared than they would’ve thought to only have the use of one arm, especially since he’s such a big and expressive guy. They spend the few weeks after Roma hanging out and watching a lot of football. Since Stephen also isn’t working for the summer—Jensen hates how their schedules are pretty much the same—he’s practically living at Jared’s place in Texas. Usually he spends his summers in Canada, like a proper citizen who stays where he belongs, but he got some visa or whatever and he can just hang around and bother Jensen as much as he wants.

Jared casually informs Jensen that both he and Stephen will have dual-citizenship once they’re married and the claiming is official, and Jensen spends the rest of that afternoon in a bitter haze. He doesn’t really think of Stephen as a Canadian, especially since the guy seems to embody a lot of classical homegrown American stereotypes, but it bothers him for some reason that Jared would have Canadian citizenship. He doesn’t think too much about it and he doesn’t mention it to Danneel. She would probably laugh at him. Jensen and Danneel are staying at his parent’s house half an hour away from Jared’s house while they’re on vacation in Costa Rica for a month. It’s strange to be in his childhood home but Danneel is comfortable there.

He tries to help Jared out as much as he can, but Jared is a pretty independent guy and Stephen is acting about as over-protective as an alpha can get, and he’s hovering over Jared like a news helicopter. Some days he won’t let Jensen in the house. However, he does go to the gym every day for way too many hours, and Jensen hangs around then. He spends the rest of his time with Danneel, mooning over her swelling belly and trying to keep her happy.

Danneel has been handling the pregnancy pretty well but she still gets mood swings. She never really got morning sickness, other than a week where she couldn’t keep anything down other than oatmeal, but she occasionally locked herself in the house and would be too anxious about being outside. Jensen ordered dinner for the two of them one night and Danneel was both freaked out by the foreign person on their property and furious that Jensen had invited someone over without asking her first. She never really got anxious about her relationship with Jensen, but spent an entire weekend terrified she would be an awful mother to their pup.

If there was anyone Jensen knows that would be an excellent mother, it’s Danneel. He tells her that and she spends the night crying into his shoulder, staining his shirt and telling him she never would’ve wanted anyone else to be her alpha, that he would be the best dad of anyone she knew.

It makes Jensen wonder if Jared ever wanted pups. They’d talked about it when Jared had been dating Genevieve, but having a beta carry the pups instead of himself was a whole different story. Jared could want kids but not want to carry them.

Jensen can’t cook very well, but he can cook steak and grill corn and pour salad dressing on lettuce. His dad has always been really into barbecue and there’s a huge grill in the backyard that Jensen could probably cook a whole cow on. Danneel is craving blue cheese and she can dump it all over her steak if she so pleases. There re two extra steaks in the fridge and Danneel says she’s fine with Jared and Stephen coming over.

Jensen calls Jared first, and after he doesn’t answer his phone, Jensen bites the bullet and calls Stephen. That jackass doesn’t answer either, and Jensen would just leave it, but Danneel tells him to make the drive over to Jared’s house. She’ll be fine on her own for an hour or so, and the steaks can marinate while he’s gone. Jensen nips at her neck over her mating bite before pressing a quick kiss to her cheek and leaving, getting in Danneel’s red car and making the quick drive over to Jared’s house.

Because he’s known Jared for nine years, he has a key to the guy’s front door, and uses it without knocking. He quietly calls Jared’s name and yells that he’s got dinner if they want it.

Since God actually wants Jensen to die, there’s a familiar thumping noise coming from upstairs. And since Jensen literally hates himself, instead of rushing out the door and flooring it back to his parent’s house, he takes a deep breath—yeah, the place stinks like turned-on Jared and Stephen’s alpha stink is absolutely rank—and closes the front door behind himself.

He realizes he’s intentionally seeking out Jared and Stephen fucking when he’s halfway up the stairs. The thumping is definitely coming from Jared’s bedroom, and they’ve gotta be really going at it since Jared’s bedroom is near the back of the top floor. He can’t hear any…noises…but Stephen can probably smell him by now.

Jensen sticks his keys in his pocket and makes it to the top of the stairs, wrinkling his nose and rubbing his hand over his mouth. The entire top floor absolutely reeks. He can hear faint moans and Jared is repeating Stephen’s name, over and over and over again. It makes Jensen sick to his stomach.

He tells himself he’s just gotta make sure that his best friend is being treated right. He ignores the fact that if Jared wasn’t consenting, the house would smell differently and Stephen’s alpha stink wouldn’t have that turned-on aspect to it. Well, Jensen would hope so at least. He winces at himself and sidles down the hall, pretending he just didn’t wish that his best friend’s alpha would be turned on while fucking him. You gotta want the best for your loved ones, he figures, and makes it past the squeaky section of the hallway before stopping down the hall from Jared’s partly-open bedroom door.

From the angle Jensen is at, he can see the end of Jared’s bed and Stephen’s bare, clenching ass and long, bare legs. Jared’s feet are locked around Stephen’s waist. Jensen almost gags and rubs his hand over his mouth, eyes locked on Stephen as he is very obviously thrusting. Jared is moaning and whining and whimpering and begging and Stephen is grunting and muttering disgusting things about Jared’s wet hole and—and Jensen puts his hands up to his ears to drown it out.

Because he’s a disgusting, nasty little man, Jensen stays for a few long minutes before pushing himself off the wall and moving to leave. Before he can, of course, Stephen stops thrusting and Jared lets out this long, desperate whine that sounds like someone just killed one of his dogs.

“Come on, baby,” Stephen rasps, and Jensen moves just enough to see him bend down to literally pick Jared up. There’s no way the guy is that fucking strong; Jared easily weighs over 200lbs. Easily. “Watch your arm.” Jared’s legs are around Stephen’s waist and his bum arm is still in it’s sling—well, Jensen can at least say that Stephen is making sure Jared isn’t getting any more hurt—and his free arm is around Stephen’s neck. His eyes are absolutely locked on Stephen’s face and it looks like there’s nothing else that matters to him in the entire world.

Stephen grunts and holds Jared up against him with one arm, dropping his other arm down to…oh gross. Jensen frowns just as Stephen turns around, giving Jensen a terrifying view of Stephen’s dick stuffing Jared full.

He could go absolutely anywhere in the room. There’s four whole walls Stephen could choose from, but of course, he goes for the wall right next to the door, pressing Jared up against it and using his arms to bring up one of Jared’s legs to sling it over his shoulder. The poor guy is practically bent in half. It can’t be comfortable.

Jared, predictably, is nearly out of his mind, head thrown back and barely coherent. He’s completely gone, reduced to just wordless sounds. Stephen clearly thinks it’s pretty damn hot, given that he’s fucking Jared for all he’s worth.

Stephen is holding Jared up with his arms under Jared’s legs, and Jensen can see the sweat dripping down his skin. He can say the way Stephen’s muscles bulge as they hold up Jared, and then he looks up at Stephen’s face to see blue eyes locked on him. Jensen freezes. Any alpha, even a placid one like Stephen, could rightfully rip him apart. It’s way beyond boundary pushing to watch his omega best friend getting pummeled by his alpha.

Because Stephen is practically an alien, he just glares at Jensen and opens his mouth to spew the most god-awful dirty talk Jensen has ever heard. “That’s right, open up for your alpha. Want that slutty little hole to stretch and burn around my knot. Want your alpha to fill you up? Get you all dirty and wet inside?”

Jared moans and throws his head back against the wall, hands scrabbling at Stephen’s chest. Stephen’s eyes haven’t left Jensen’s face as he fucks into Jared. “Alpha,” Jared begs, and his nails dig into Stephen’s shoulders. “Please…knot me. _Please_.”

“Want you to come first, baby. Want that little omega dick to spurt for me. I know you can do it. Come all over me and lick it off me after my knot comes down. I know you wanna get me dirty, baby.” Stephen grunts and thrusts forward, still staring at Jensen. Jared shouts and Jensen winces, taking a step back. “That’s my good boy.”

Jensen spins around and walks as quickly out of the house as he can, locking the front door behind himself. He decides to tell Danneel that they weren’t home. Hopefully Stephen won’t tell Jared he was there and let Jensen keep whatever shreds of dignity he has. Well, not that he had any to begin with. At least he didn’t get a boner.

When he gets home, he heads straight for the bathroom and throws up whatever little bit of food is left in his stomach. Danneel asks if he’s all right and he waves her off, telling her that he must’ve gotten a little carsick on the drive back. He’s never been very good at lying but there were definitely a lot of sick feelings in his stomach, so Jensen thinks he’s justified.

//

The wedding is going to be on the summer solstice. Jared loves sunny days and Stephen loves whatever Jared loves, so it works out for the both of them. Of course, that gives absolutely no time for any sort of preparation, so they decide to keep the ceremony small and to keep it in Austin. All of Jared’s family is in Texas, so it’s easy for everyone to get there, and even though all of Stephen’s family is in Canada, he winks at Jensen and tells him that they’ve been waiting long enough for him to get mated that they’ll go anywhere.

Danneel helps the most with the planning. She says it helps take her mind off the pup in her stomach. Jensen doesn’t blame her, especially since the pup has seemed to double in size in the past week and has been kicking Danneel every chance it gets. Jared is constantly cooing over Danneel’s belly and talking to the baby while Danneel talks to Stephen about what they want the ceremony to be like. Jared has just said that he wants the after-party to be informal and at a bar, and that he didn’t care about what the rest of it was like, besides wanting pink and while flowers.

Jared also wants to wear a white tux, but Stephen quickly vetoes that idea, telling Jared that he’s going to be eating and that all-white is a pretty bad idea for him. Jared just laughs and agrees, leaning over Stephen on the couch and smacking a kiss to his cheek. Stephen snorts and turns back to Danneel as she pulls up two different potential settings for the actual ceremony. Because Danneel is literally a miracle worker, she has already gotten a were officiate. Human same-sex marriage is still illegal in Texas, which means they’ll have that ceremony when they’re back in Canada, but since weres operate under different laws, they can mate whoever the hell they want.

Jensen and Jared decide to go to the Apple Store to see if they can fix Jared’s iCloud account. Jared has gotten weirdly secretive about his phone lately—they used to use each other’s phones all the time—and even changed the passcode to something that Jensen couldn’t figure out. He’d even tried 4592, but that hadn’t worked. Of course, after Jared had given Jensen his phone to show him a picture and Jensen had glanced through the other pictures, he hadn’t been as bothered by Jared keeping stuff from him. Guy only needs to see porn of his friend and his alpha once to get the memo.

The Apple Store can’t help because they only offer iCloud plans up to 50GB, which is basically useless in Jared’s opinion, and he ends up angrily tweeting about it, because he’s a grown man who can do whatever he want. Jensen buys him ice cream and Jared ends up calming down. There’s no way someone needs however much music Jared thinks he needs. Or whatever terrifying thing it is that Jared is trying to backup.

Jared grins at him. “Only a week left, man. What’s it like bein’ a married man, anyway? What do I have to look forward to?”

Jensen isn’t bitter and he doesn’t think of saying ‘Spending less time with me,’ because that’s not something for anyone to look forward to. Instead he stares at his ice cream and tries to smile. He probably looks like he’s being told he has cancer, but Jensen does the best he can. “I thought Danneel and I were connected before the ceremony, but it really solidifies the bond. All bonds are different, y’know. I read up on it before we were official, and it can basically go any which way. Sometimes alpha/omega pairs can even communicate telepathically; well, at least, they claim they can. Or they can feel each other’s emotions. Danneel and I don’t really have any of that, but I know when she’s in trouble, and especially when she’s mad at me.”

Jared grins at him. “Bet that happens a lot.”

Jensen snorts and eats the rest of his ice cream, wincing at the headache. Jared throws away his trash for him and mutters about ordering another milkshake. “You got no idea, brother. Anyway, I don’t think there’s anyway to tell how your bond is going to go.”

“You’re not gonna sing, right?”

Jensen meets Jared’s gaze and he smiles, reaching across the small table to rest his hand on top of Jared’s hand. “Naw, man. I’ll leave that to Stephen.”

Jared smiles and ducks his chin, rubbing the back of his free hand over his mouth before he looks back up at Jensen. “I know you don’t like him, Jensen, but he’s my alpha, and I don’t think I’ve ever been happier. Every single part of me wants to marry him. Even if you and all of God’s creations tell me not to, I’m still going to mate him.”

God, Jensen loves this man. He honestly really does love Jared. Jensen has loved a lot of people in his life, but Jared was the first one he really opened his heart to. Jared has always got him. They’ve always understood each other like no one else in Jensen’s life.

Jensen smiles at him. “Yeah, I think I’m startin’ to get that.”

Jared ends up getting another milkshake and after the lady at the counter winks at him, he scuttles back to their table and blushes into his hands. Jensen laughs at him. “Think that’ll stop after the ceremony?” Jared whispers. “Stephen says he’s heard it happens more when an omega is about to be claimed because we give off happiness pheromones and that makes people attracted to us.”

“Huh.” The bastard is pretty much right, but Jensen won’t admit that. What a jerk, honestly. “Yeah, I guess. You do smell happier.”

Jared blushes. Again. Jensen is going to roll his eyes out of the back of his head. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy in my life, Jen.”

Jensen clears his throat and takes his hand back, plucking at the hem of his shirt. “I guess that’s all what we wanted anyway, Jared, for you to be happy.”

“It’s been a long time coming, brother,” Jared says, but he nods. “But I’m here, and I wouldn’t change who I’m with for the world.”

“God, you’re gay.”

“Bisexual!” Jared yells, and throws his napkin at Jensen. They end up getting Jared’s milkshake and going home, Jared giving the melted mess to Stephen and then curling up as much as he can in his alpha’s lap. Jensen drops into the big armchair to the side and pulls Danneel into his lap, watching the two of them curl together on the couch.

Stephen never mentioned when Jensen watched them have sex in Jared’s bedroom, and Jensen has been pretty cautious to make sure Stephen won’t try to use that against him. He’s definitely taken a step back in interfering with Jared and Stephen’s relationship so that Stephen won’t use it against him.

Jensen smiles at his friend. He’s right. Jared has been working towards this for a long time, and Jensen thinks he deserves it. He might not approve of the alpha Jared decided on, but he supposes it’s worth it if Jared’s happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://twitter.com/jarpad/status/477259183973093377


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Jensen stands across from Stephen as they wait for Jared to walk down the aisle. Human marriage ceremonies are actually loosely based off were mating ceremonies. The alpha stands in human form next to the officiate, and then waits for the omega to come walking down the aisle. They start the ceremony in human form and they end it in wolf form. The alpha has to make the omega submit in front of friends and family.

Jensen wonders what Jared’s family is going to think about Jared being mated to a white wolf. Stephen was right; there are hundreds of superstitions and outdated beliefs about white wolves. They’re usually signs of infertility or that something evil is going to curse the family. Jensen has heard of packs killing pups that come out completely white. Half of him wonders why that didn’t happen to Stephen when he was born, but he quickly dismisses the thought.

Stephen tears up when Jared appears on the aisle. He honestly looks like he hasn’t seen anything prettier. Jared only has eyes for Stephen, and he has a ring of pink flowers in his hair. Jensen thinks he’s almost as beautiful as Danneel.

Jared’s dad wipes away a tear and Jensen throws Jared’s parents a smile. They both nod at him and pointedly look back at how Stephen has carefully picked up Jared’s hands and is holding him like he’s made of glass. Jared still has the sling on so it’s a little awkward, but Stephen looks like he wouldn’t accidentally wrench Jared’s shoulder if someone paid him to. Jensen can see Stephen’s face perfectly, and the alpha looks like he’s seen the sun. Jensen wonders if he has the same look on his own face when he looks at Danneel.

Jared keeps rubbing his eyes on the shoulders of his tux as to not take his hands away from Stephen while the officiate drones on about true love and the pureness of the alpha/omega mating bond. It really is touching, actually, and Jensen feels a bit of a hitch in his chest. After this, he’s always going to be second best to Jared’s alpha.

Jared was so nervous for the ceremony. He had spent the entire night before glued to Jensen’s side, terrified that Stephen was going to call it off or decide he didn’t want such a big, ugly omega, or that Stephen was going to die overnight and Jared would spend the rest of his life alone. Jared also spent awhile nervous that no one would show up to the ceremony because they disagreed with his choice of mate or that Stephen’s parents would pull him aside and tell him that Stephen could do so much better than him and that they wouldn’t approve of the mating. If there was any theoretical worry someone could have the night before their mating ceremony, Jared had had it, and he’d sobbed it into Jensen’s shoulder, absolutely convinced that it would happen.

It was a big worry of Jared’s that Stephen would suddenly wake up and realize that Jared wasn’t good enough for him, whatever that meant. Hopefully the mating would knock that concern out of the park, especially given that divorces weren’t options in alpha/omega pairs.

Coming back to himself, Jensen takes a step back as Jared and Stephen help each other undress as they prepare to shift into their wolf forms. He takes Jared’s clothes as Stephen’s best man—Jensen was introduced to him the night before but he can’t remember the guy’s name to save his life—takes Stephen’s clothes. Stephen carefully pulls Jared’s sling off and gives it to Jensen, before turning his omega to the small crowd in front of them and presenting him, professionally lifting up his dick to show his testicles and then casually having Jared turn around and bend over to expose his hole to the weres gathered. Stephen’s dad nods approvingly and Jared shakes in excitement when the officiate says they can continue, that the alpha’s family has formally accepted the omega. Jensen remembers doing that with Danneel when they were mated and how uncomfortable it had been.

There’s no acceptance ceremony with the omega’s family. If they had disapproved, any faults with the potential alpha would’ve already been raised and the ceremony wouldn’t’ve happened in the first place. It’s always confused Jensen, given that there’s a lot more that can go wrong with omegas being taken advantage of than alphas.

Jared slides into his wolf form first and shakes out his fur and then prances around the room. He limps a bit but manages to stretch out his shoulder enough to be able to sniff at Stephen’s parents and wag his tail and then go lick at his own parents’ hands and taste their happy tears. Stephen shifts next and takes a long minute to acclimate, ignoring the measured gasps from Jared’s side of the audience, and then crouches down, a heavy growl echoing throughout the auditorium.

Jared freezes and then strides off, obviously moving slower than usual. Jensen finds himself rooting for his friend, hoping he can last at least a few minutes before Stephen tackles him. Jared makes his way around the benches and towards the open front door, but Stephen manages to get a running start and jumps over Jared, blocking his way outside. Jared tries to dart around Stephen and his shoulder ends up giving out, and he falls to the floor, whining.

Jensen jerks forward a few steps, dropping Jared’s clothes, but Stephen gets there first, crouching down and nudging Jared with his snout. Jared whines and rolls over onto his side, rolling his head back, but Stephen doesn’t bite him. Instead, he noses at Jared’s shoulder and then lays down next to him, sniffing along the line of Jared’s back and tail. Everyone in the room is silent. Jensen knows that Jared’s parents are terrified this means that Stephen is rejecting him, but Jensen is starting to think he knows Stephen better than that.

After a few long minutes, Stephen lies down next to Jared and bares his own neck. Everyone in the room titters and Jensen sees Stephen’s mom slap a hand over her mouth. Carefully, Jared sits up and sniffs at Stephen’s neck, and then wags his tail, licking Stephen’s neck and the bottom of his chin. Stephen wiggles around and then slowly sits up, nudging Jared away from him and back down to the ground. Jared rolls over onto his back and bares his neck.

This time, Stephen bites him.

After a long moment, Stephen slides back into his human form and Jared soon follows. Both Jensen and Stephen’s best man rush forward to give them both their pants, at least, and Jared’s sling, and Jared proudly shows off his bleeding bite mark. It's one of the few wounds that's guaranteed to transfer between forms.

The officiate smiles at the two of them and announces them formally mated. Jared takes a step back and Stephen’s arm swings around his waist. The family quickly filters out of the room so Jared and Stephen can solidify their bond and reestablish it.

Jensen is the last person out of the auditorium. Stephen rubs his nose over Jared’s neck and lifts his head to stare at Jensen. “You gonna watch?” Stephen asks, and Jensen high-tails it out of there before Jared can even register that Stephen said anything to him.

The guests mill around for an hour or so and everyone pretends everything is normal while Jensen’s best friend is being fucked by some fake-ass superhero alpha. Jared’s parents herd around Jensen and Danneel and ask them all about what kind of alpha Stephen is and how much he cares about Jared and all of the questions Jensen thinks they should’ve asked before Jared mated to him.

Danneel wraps her arm around Jensen’s and smiles up at them. “Oh, he’s a good alpha. He’s exactly what Jared needs. Jensen had his reservations at first, but I think he’s come around.” She looks up at him. “Right, alpha?”

Jensen grimaces but nods. “Amell is just what Jared needs. He’s good for him.”

They make endless small talk until Stephen and Jared come out of the auditorium. Jared’s chest is covered in hickeys and there’s a noticeable hitch in his step and there’s a collar of bite marks around his neck and he looks the happiest he’s ever been. Stephen’s back is all clawed up but he looks content. They end up changing into regular clothes and socializing for a while longer.

Jensen slaps Jared on the back—once he has a shirt on—and gives Stephen an alpha-to-alpha nod. Of course, Jared is wearing a collared shirt with none of the buttons done up, so his marked-up chest is visible and his bitten neck is right in Jensen’s face.

Jared swings his arm over Stephen’s shoulders and drags him over to Jensen, grinning wide as they wait for the Uber driver to show up. “You gonna meet us at the bar? Alpha wants to do shots. Jensen!” Jensen looks at Stephen and the other alpha quirks an eyebrow at him. “When did it hit you that you were officially mated? I don’t think it’s gonna hit me for awhile.”

Danneel answers for him, because apparently Jensen is incapable of speaking. “It took about a week for me. Once people started calling me the Ackles omega, that’s when I knew it was real.”

Jared grins down at Stephen. “Hear that, alpha? I’m _your_ omega.”

“I have heard that,” Stephen replies, and holds his left hand up so Jared can see the ring on his finger. “Guess we should go out and get wasted to celebrate, yeah?”

Jensen finally finds his voice and tears his gaze away from Jared’s ecstatic face. “Yeah, I need a damn drink.”

Jared disengages from Stephen and pulls his phone out, typing something in quickly before swinging his arm around Jensen’s waist and pulling him a few steps away from everyone else. “Was I supposed to get Stephen a gift? My momma said I should’ve, but I didn’t even think of it.”

Jensen frowns, looking down at Jared’s phone and seeing Twitter. He rolls his eyes. What a dork. “Danneel didn’t get me anything, and I didn’t get her anything. You’re supposed to be the gift, Jared.”

“I’m surprised you said that without going up in smoke,” Jared told him, a thoughtful tone in his voice, before he grins down at Jensen and nearly vibrates out of his shoes. “Did you ever think this would happen? I can’t believe you got married four years ago, Jensen, Jesus, and I’m only just now joining your ranks. You gonna buy drinks tonight?”

Jensen sighs but smiles up at his friend. He can’t help it; when Jared is this happy and this bouncy, everyone in his vicinity reacts and has to smile along with him. Jensen has never met anyone capable of making him smile without him even realizing it, but it’s like his body reacts to Jared’s presence and energy. It’s always been like that with Jared, ever since he first met the guy.

“I’ll buy _your_ drinks, how about that? I don’t need you and Amell drinking me out of house and home. I have a baby on the way, after all.”

A couple cars pull up and Jared tells him they have a deal before dragging him and Stephen towards one of the cars. They end up hitting two bars in Austin before Jared decides on one, and then he orders a bunch of rum and Cokes. Stephen does a few shots and even buys Jensen a couple shots.

Jared pulls Danneel onto the dance floor and Stephen pulls Jensen aside. “Hey, man, I just wanna thank you for being alright with me and Jared. I ain’t even gonna talk about you watching us mate. I just want to tell you that you’re not as bad as I figured you were.”

“Me? Not as bad?” Jensen repeats, practically putting his hand to his chest in shock.

Stephen picks up another shot glass and offers it to Jensen before throwing it back. “Yeah, man, you’re an asshole. I can see why Jay likes you, though. You’re not too bad of a guy. Just wanted to say thanks, anyway.”

Frowning, Jensen shrugs. “Yeah, of course. I’ll do anything for Jared, you know that.”

Stephen waves Jared over and steals his phone. He tosses his phone to Jensen and tells him to take a picture of them. Jensen swallows past a lump in his throat and obliges, and takes a few of them. He gets one of Jared smiling with Stephen rubbing his nose along his neck, one where Stephen is kissing Jared’s cheek and Jared is looking off to the side with his mouth open, and another where they’re rubbing noses and looking into each other’s eyes. Seeing it in picture form makes it seem more real. Jared has his arm over Stephen’s shoulder and his mating ring is clearly visible on his left hand.

They go out onto the dance floor and practically grind against each other. Danneel comes up to Jensen and wraps her arms around his waist and sways along to the music with him. His arms wrap around her shoulders and they move together for a long few moments before Jared’s phone lights up in Jensen’s hand.

He looks down to see a tweet from Stephen on the screen. He yells for Jared and he comes bounding over, all sunshine and dimples even in the darkness of the bar, and Jared unlocks his phone so Jensen can see it. It’s the second picture Jensen took, where Stephen is kissing Jared’s cheek, and Stephen captioned it:

_Awesome news. @jarpad and I made it official._

Jensen gives Jared his phone back and turns back to his wife, cradling her swelling stomach in his hand. He has bigger things to worry about than what Stephen says on Twitter. He was just at the mating ceremony, after all. He knows it’s official.

Jensen is a lot of things, and smart might not necessarily be one of them. Just ask his wife. However, one thing he’s learned is that it’s better to be supportive. He’s gotten a lot further in life when he tries to build up the people around him, and not tear him down. He might hate Stephen Amell but that doesn’t mean he’s not a good alpha for his best friend.

He watches Stephen order a glass of wine for Jared and thinks that a lot of things in his life start and end with wine, and there isn’t necessarily anything wrong with that. Instead, Jensen gets a glass of his own and drinks to the newly mated couple. It’s the least he can do, after all. What else are friends for?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> https://twitter.com/stephenamell/status/480587650747727872
> 
> this fic was finished a year ago. figured it was finally time to get around to uploading it. 
> 
> this last read-through definitely made me realize the entire fic is a straight guy being grossed out by two men in a relationship, but...i'm just pretending that dynamics are different in this AU. or something.
> 
> anyway, hope everyone enjoyed this.

**Author's Note:**

> Tweet links:  
> https://twitter.com/stephenamell/status/408053469396758529  
> https://twitter.com/stephenamell/status/408057910845898752  
> https://twitter.com/stephenamell/status/408119343474417664  
> https://twitter.com/stephenamell/status/408485375628169216  
> https://twitter.com/jarpad/status/451491731033174016  
> https://twitter.com/jarpad/status/477259183973093377  
> https://twitter.com/stephenamell/status/480587650747727872
> 
> sidenote: JJ is born in the end of 2014, not May 2013


End file.
